Hurt at work in Roanoke, Salem, or Vinton? Virginia workers’ comp can pay for your medical treatment and part of your lost wages, but only if your accident meets the legal test and your claim is filed on time. Pathfinder Injury Law handles only Virginia workers’ compensation claims, only for injured workers, and we take cases from across the valley and the rest of western Virginia.
We do not have an office in Roanoke. You can meet with us by phone or video, or at our Richmond office by appointment. Your first consultation is free. Call 804-505-0633 or use the form on this page.
What Are the First Rules for a Workers’ Comp Claim in Western Virginia?
A Virginia workers’ comp claim from western Virginia follows the same rules as a claim from anywhere else in the state. The first few rules decide whether you get anything at all:
- Who is covered: Virtually all employers with three or more employees regularly in service in Virginia are required to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Being called an independent contractor doesn’t always settle it. What matters most is whether the company has the right to control how the work is done.
- What you have to show: that your injury arose out of and in the course of your employment, and that it was caused by an identifiable incident at a reasonably definite time that produced a sudden mechanical or structural change to your body.
- Notice: give your employer written notice of the accident within 30 days, although exceptions exist (Va. Code § 65.2-600).
- Filing: Your claim must be on file with the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission within two years of your date of accident, although exceptions apply. File it even if the insurance company is already paying you (Va. Code § 65.2-601).
- Fault: it doesn’t matter whether your employer caused the accident. Your own conduct can matter, for example willful misconduct or willfully breaking a known safety rule.
Here’s how to file a workers’ comp claim, step by step.
What Jobs and Injuries Are Common in the Roanoke Valley?
Health care employs more people than any other industry in the city, more than one worker in five, according to the state’s Virginia Works community profile. Stores and restaurants come next, and construction and transportation and warehousing each employ more than 4,000 people. The state’s list of the largest employers in the city includes:
- Health care: Roanoke Memorial Community Hospital, first on the list, and Carilion Services, plus Blue Ridge Behavioral Health Care and Virginia Lutheran Homes
- Construction and utility work: Davis H. Elliot Company, an electrical contractor that builds and repairs power lines, Adams Construction Company, an asphalt paving company, and Branch Highways
- Manufacturing: Virginia Transformer Corporation, Steel Dynamics, Coca-Cola Bottling, and Bimbo Bakeries
- Delivery and stores: UPS, Federal Express, Walmart, Kroger, and Food Lion
- Local government: the city and its public schools
Pathfinder Injury Law focuses only on Virginia state workers’ compensation. If you’re a federal employee, a railroad worker, or a shipyard or port worker, or if you were hurt in another state, your claim may fall under a different system. Give us a call anyway. We’ll help you figure out where your claim belongs, and if it isn’t one we handle, we may be able to point you to a lawyer who does.
Jobs like these produce sudden injuries, for example:
- Falls from ladders, roofs, bucket trucks, and utility poles
- Electrical shocks and burns
- Being struck by equipment or a passing vehicle in a road work zone
- Hands and fingers caught in machinery, and burns from hot metal
- Nurses and aides hurt lifting or moving a patient
- Back, neck, shoulder, and knee injuries from a specific lift or fall
- Crashes while driving a delivery truck or other work vehicle
Some of these claims are easier to prove than others. A fall from a pole or an electrical burn happens at one moment and usually leaves a record the same day. A back or neck injury from lifting is easier for an insurance company to dispute: it may say the injury came on gradually instead of from one identifiable incident, or that the problem is degenerative. Write down what you were lifting, when it happened, and who you told.
If another driver hits you while you are driving for work, you may also have a separate injury claim against that driver. More on construction accidents, car accidents at work, and back and spine injuries at work.
Can I Sue My Employer Over a Back Injury at Work?
Usually not. If your injury is covered by workers’ comp, that is generally your only remedy against your employer (Va. Code § 65.2-307). You may have a separate injury claim against someone outside your company, such as a driver who hit you while you were working, but not against a coworker. More on suing your employer in Virginia.
Where Are Western Virginia Workers’ Comp Disputes Decided?
The Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission decides disputes over workers’ comp claims that the parties don’t settle (Va. Code § 65.2-700). It has a regional office in Roanoke at 3800 Electric Rd., Suite 200, and lists that office as both a hearing location and a mediation location. It also lists hearing locations at 55 E. Main St. in Christiansburg, 20 S. Randolph St. in Lexington, and 3160 Kings Mountain Rd. in Martinsville (Commission locations).
Insurance companies deny claims for many reasons. A few common ones: the accident didn’t happen at work, the injury is degenerative, or the treatment isn’t related to the accident.
The Commission’s locations page does not say which cases are heard where. Its rules also provide for hearings by video over Webex (16VAC30-50-30). You can ask the Commission for a hearing no matter what the insurance company decides. The insurance company will have a lawyer at that hearing. Here’s what to do if your claim is denied.
What Does Workers’ Comp Pay?
- Wage checks while you can’t work: If a doctor says you cannot return to work at all for a temporary period because of your injuries, you may receive two-thirds of your pre-injury average weekly wage, up to a maximum weekly compensation rate.
- Wage checks on light duty at lower pay: two-thirds of the difference between what you earned before and what you earn now, up to the weekly maximum.
- Medical treatment: the insurance company is required to pay for treatment that is reasonable, necessary, and causally related to the accident. That doesn’t mean it will. Your employer must offer a panel of at least three doctors, and you choose one.
- Permanent partial disability: a set number of weeks of pay for a permanent loss of use of certain body parts, based on a doctor’s rating.
- Death benefits: These benefits can pay for a limited amount of funeral expenses, medical bills incurred before the death, and lost wages for certain periods of time for certain survivors or dependents who meet statutory criteria.
Workers’ comp does not pay for pain and suffering. More on what workers’ comp covers in Virginia.
What Should I Bring to a Consultation?
Bring what you have. Nothing here is required to call us, and you can send it to us if we meet by phone or video.
- Medical records, work notes, and visit summaries
- Medical bills
- Anything from your employer: the accident report, the list of doctors you were given, emails or texts about the injury
- Letters or emails from the insurance company
- Anything from the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission
Do You Take Cases From Salem, Vinton, and the Rest of the Valley?
Yes. We take cases from Salem, Vinton, and the rest of Roanoke County, Botetourt County, Franklin County, Craig County, and the rest of western Virginia. The state’s list of the largest employers in the county includes manufacturers such as Elbit Systems of America, Marvin Windows, Cardinal Glass Industries, and Medeco Security Locks.
To the east, see our Lynchburg workers’ comp page. To the north, see our Shenandoah Valley page.
Talk to a Workers’ Comp Lawyer About Your Western Virginia Claim
Pathfinder Injury Law handles only Virginia workers’ compensation claims. Call 804-505-0633 or fill out the form on this page.