As a seasoned professional with 25 years of experience in personal injury and workers’ compensation, I, Matt Eason, have received a question that many of you might have pondered: ‘What’s the difference between compensation and reward in a workers’ compensation case?’
Please click here to view the video.
Understanding the distinction between a compromise and release and a stipulation and award in a workers’ compensation case is crucial. This knowledge can significantly influence the outcome of your case.
To answer that question, I would like to clarify what the author was trying to ask. It’s different from what the difference is in compensation and reward but rather what the difference is between a compromise and release in a workers’ compensation case and a stipulation and award in a workers’ compensation case.
A stipulation and award isn’t technically a settlement of the compensation case. Instead, it’s an agreement between the employee and the insurance company or their attorneys as it would be as to what the case’s value would be and what a workers’ compensation judge would have awarded had it gone to trial. So you stipulate to an award of the workers’ compensation judge. That award then becomes binding on the parties, and the rights and remedies occur.
One of the benefits of a stipulation and award is that you still have ongoing rights to continued medical care related to your injury. Likewise, should your injury worsen within five years of the original date of injury, you can reopen your case to increase the stipulation and award amount.
In contrast to the stipulation and award, compromise and release exist. A compromise and release are analogous to a settlement agreement and similar to settlement agreements in a personal injury or employment law case.
In a compromise and release, you wrap up all of your rights, past, present, and future, into one document, typically one payment, and then you have no benefits in the future. So, if your claims get worse, you do not get to come back for more money. Hopefully, your future medical care is part of that compromise and release, so you’re no longer at the mercy of the work comp system and the work comp adjusters to get your medical care. Instead, you can self-procure your medical care or get it through other resources and take that system out of play.
One frustration in the workers’ compensation system is that clients say they want to enter into a compromise and release but not a stipulation and award. That’s a particularly delicate question in that many situations lend themselves to compromise and release, which will be better for the clients. Unfortunately, the law cannot force an insurance company to do a compromise release. It can only force an award, and as a result, the stipulation and award is one vehicle, or going to trial is the other vehicle. The compromise and release is a voluntary thing that some insurance companies will refuse to do.
Suppose you’ve been presented with an offer to resolve your case. In that case, you may need help understanding whether it’s a stipulation and award, compromise and release, or the amount they offer to pay you is appropriate. I hope you’ll consider contacting me or one of my firm’s other Sacramento workers’ compensation lawyers. My name is Matt Eason. I’m with the law firm of Eason & Tambornini.
