Workers Compensation Expert Witnesses

As wage replacement indemnity benefits paid to workers compensation claimants continue to rise and lump sum settlement demands for permanent total disability claims escalate in our changing labor economy, the introduction of the vocational rehabilitation expert witness to the claim-litigation process is more common than not. Analysis of the claimant’s age, education, work experience, transferrable skills, language ability, residual functional medical capacity, intelligence, attention and concentration and aptitudes; plus labor market survey and other types of analysis, are the vocational factors, in combination with the medical evidence, why attorneys turn to vocational experts to answer a claimant’s ability to return to work. Plaintiff and defense attorneys hire vocational experts to prepare and verify lump sum demands, rebut opposing vocational expert methodology and testify before the factfinder deciding cases on workers compensation permanent and total disability matters.