During late 2016, the firm added Thomas Walker as Of Counsel. In addition to his experience in litigation and employment law, Thomas has twenty-four years' experience practicing workers’ compensation law mostly defending employers/insurers and self-insured employers.
As an employment lawyer and workers’ compensation attorney who has litigated cases in the courts and tried cases before the State Board of Workers’ Compensation, Thomas has unique experience rarely seen among workers’ compensation defense attorneys. Most of the workers’ comp defense bar know little about employment law and care only about pleasing the insurance adjuster. Typical workers’ compensation defense attorneys simply do not recognize employment law issues that could pose problems for the employers they defend. However, when Thomas defends a claim, he sees all aspects of the case that can impact the employer.
It is important for a business faced with a workers’ compensation claim to have an attorney knowledgeable in both workers’ compensation defense and employment law. Defending a workers’ compensation case often involves FMLA, ADA and unemployment issues. In addition, a workers’ compensation claim may reveal FLSA problems for an employer in the way it pays employees. Finally, an injured employee may bring OSHA into the mix. Businesses should seek an attorney who can close the workers’ compensation claim without leaving the employer exposed to an employment lawsuit.
If your business is self-insured or if it has purchased insurance for workers’ compensation, please consider Wimberly, Lawson, Steckel, Schneider & Stine, P.C. for your workers’ compensation needs. We can help your business by conducting an audit of your workers’ compensation practices and we can defend your cases. If we are not on your insurer’s panel of approved attorneys, we can work with your insurer to be included as panel counsel. We can also take a fresh look at open claims files and devise a strategy to close them. Finally, if you are a self-insured and are considering self-administering, we would be happy to help.
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