FAQs

You should seek medical care and report your injury to your employer and the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation as quickly as possible. Delay between an injury and the reporting of the injury or seeking medical care can increase the chance that your claim will be denied. The initiating document for a BWC claim is called the First Report of an Injury, Occupational Disease or Death (the “FROI”). The form is available here, with attached instructions on filing the claim: https://www.bwc.ohio.gov/downloads/blankpdf/FROI-20020723.pdf

It is possible to navigate the BWC system without an attorney. However, your employer and the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation are represented by attorneys. An attorney on your side can help protect your rights, making sure you get the medical care and compensation you need to recover from the physical and financial impacts of your injury.

Most clients hire us after they receive the initial denial on their disability application. However, some clients call us after the second denial or while they are waiting for their Administrative Law Judge hearing to be scheduled. Our office can assist in gathering records and medical provider opinions during the first and second levels, and we will prepare you and attend the Administrative Law Judge hearing with you, taking your testimony and cross-examining the medical or vocational experts testifying at your hearing.

If you feel you have been discriminated against based on race, national origin, gender, age, or disability, you may contact an Employment Attorney to help determine if your employer terminated you unlawfully. Make sure to request and preserve all communications in writing, like your letter of termination, and also hold on to texts, emails or memos from work that might support your potential discrimination claim.

If you feel you have been discriminated against based on race, national origin, gender, age, or disability, you may contact an Employment Attorney to help determine if your employer terminated you unlawfully. Make sure to request and preserve all communications in writing, like your letter of termination, and also hold on to texts, emails or memos from work that might support your potential discrimination claim.

For most employment matters, we work on a contingent fee basis. This means that instead of charging hourly, we will receive a portion of what you are paid by the opposing party, whether through settlement or court decision. On the other hand, some matters may require hourly work, which means we will ask for a retainer upfront, and we will generate periodic invoices as we work on your case.

An insurance company will typically push for settlement quickly; however, most personal injury cases have a two-year statute of limitations – the case must be filed before that date or it is forever barred.

To answer the title question in a single word: Zero.

It will cost you nothing to put a Columbus-based workers comp attorney to work on your case when you partner with Agee Clymer Mitchell & Portman. Our attorneys offer free consultations to anyone in central Ohio who suffers an injury or develops an occupational illness on the job, and we only take workers compensation lawyer fees if we secure a settlement or an award of benefits for a client.

Our attorneys understand that the majority of our workers’ comp clients come to us only when a work-related injury or illness has rendered them unable to earn money. Sometimes, too, we find ourselves representing a widow, widower, elderly parent, or dependent child who relied on the job earnings of a person who died in a workplace accident.

Often, our clients have already had their initial applications for workers’ comp benefits denied. A handful has even exhausted all their official appeals and needs to file lawsuits against the Ohio Workers’ Compensation program in order to receive settlements, money to pay medical bills, and replacement wages.

As a case proceeds, we assume the financial burden of collecting and organizing medical records, preparing applications, pursuing appeals, and, when necessary, preparing for a hearing before an administrative law judge who handles workers’ compensation cases. We do not charge legal fees for our hours, staff time, making copies, or mailing documents while a case is in progress.

When we do succeed on behalf of our clients, however, we ask for standard workers compensation lawyer fees. These will be calculated as a fixed percentage of a total settlement or the total value of a worker’s compensation benefits award. If a case was particularly complicated and time-consuming, we might also ask for some reimbursement for materials and expenses. Any such fees will be fully detailed and accounted for on an itemized invoice.

We never take a fee of more than 33.33 percent, and we are always willing to adjust our fee to as low as 10 percent for a client who is experiencing significant financial hardships in the wake of a work-related illness, injury, or death. Payment plans can also be arranged for clients who qualify to receive “standard” workers’ comp benefits that get paid every two weeks like a paycheck.

But the most important thing for you to understand as someone who is unable to work and counting on disability benefits is that consulting with and hiring one of our attorneys will not cost you anything upfront. If despite our best efforts, we cannot secure a settlement or benefits for you, we will not charge you anything.

Do not let concerns over attorney fees in Ohio stop you from receiving the advice and guidance you need to make sure you can start to recover financially from a workplace injury, occupational disease, or accidental death on the job. Contact us online or call us at (614) 678-3318 to let one of our workers’ comp attorneys know what he or she can do to help.

Settlement amounts are difficult to predict, but most attorneys use jury verdicts from cases in the area where your accident occurred and that include similar factual circumstances.