Applying for Jobs with a Criminal Record: Know Your Rights
How To Tell If You're Ready To Start An Injury Claim
Michelle Garrett
When folks are faced with the possibility of filing injury claims, they often want to get started as quickly as possible. A personal injury lawyer, however, will caution you to not jump into the process until you have a high level of confidence you're ready to pursue a case. How will you know when you're ready to begin, though?
On the Mend
One of the first questions is whether you've reached the point where you're on the mend. This doesn't necessarily mean that all is well. After all, there's a good chance an accident victim might never fully recover physically or mentally.
Whenever possible, a personal injury attorney wants to know the full extent of a client's recovery. You need to know this because it decides whether you'll require long-term care, additional surgeries, medical devices, or medications. The law only gives you one chance to obtain compensation. You can't demand more if you find out two years from now that you have another problem that went undiscovered before you took the settlement offer.
Collecting Reports
As a personal injury lawyer assembles a claim, they usually need to provide supporting documents. These are bits of paperwork that explain what happened and why the client deserves compensation. Normally, reports from qualified professionals form the bedrock of a solid claim. These include reports from doctors, police officers, EMTs, and firefighters.
Suppose you've worked with a specialist to try to reconstruct a broken bone following an accident. The specialist can provide X-rays and reports to show the extent of the injury. Likewise, they can explain what a patient's long-term recovery prognosis is likely to be.
You don't want to advance a claim until you have collected all the appropriate reports. This may take some time, especially if you're waiting for something like swelling to go down so a doctor can perform exploratory surgery to see what's going on.
Assessing Similar Cases
One of the main arguments for hiring a law firm to represent your interests is they have experience working on similar cases. After a personal injury lawyer has collected the reports and seen how well a client is recovering, they have to compare the client's case to similar ones. They can look at industry data and also consider their experiences.
Ultimately, they have to present the defendant's insurance company with a claim that makes sense. This means sending a demand letter that outlines what the injuries are, why the defendant is at fault for them, and how much compensation is necessary to make up for what happened.
Contact a local personal injury lawyer to learn more.
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I'll be up front: I have a criminal record. As someone who's spent lots--and lots--of time looking for a job in my life, I've gotten used to being up front with this fact. It's difficult to get hired with this on my record, and frankly, it never gets less scary to have to tell an interviewer about it. But that doesn't mean I'm unemployable. I'm a hard worker who can bring a lot to any company. And I also know what an employer needs to do for me. I know my rights. There's no federal law protecting me from discrimination due to my record, but there are plenty of state laws that make it a little easier for me. If you're looking for a job and you have a criminal record, read through this information. Protect yourself during a job search. Know your rights.