Vocational Issues

Are You Preparing for a Vocational Rehabilitation Interview?

If you are not able to perform the work required by your employer, or if you have received notice of a vocational interview or other action relating to your ability to work, contact the Pittsburgh workers' comp lawyers at Dugan & Associates.
A vocational interview with a certified vocational expert is frequently used in the employer's effort to reduce or discontinue your benefits in a workers' compensation case. One of our attorneys can represent you at the interview, which is essential to protecting your interests. Remember that the employer's objective is to show that, given your continuing disability, you are able to work either at a light-duty or modified-duty job with the original employer—or at another job available in your local labor market.

The workers' comp attorneys at Dugan & Associates can advise and represent you at any stage of your workers' compensation case, including defending your interests at hearings intended to show your ability to return to work. The main issues after your partial disability has been assessed concern your vocational potential and your earning power. In other words, the employer's vocational expert will be asked to offer an expert opinion that you can work at particular kinds of jobs that pay a particular wage, and that those jobs are available in the labor market where you live.

Our attorneys may be able to challenge the opinions of the employer's vocational expert to show that:

• Your physical condition is not in fact suitable for the jobs the expert has identified for you.
• The labor market survey developed by the vocational expert is inaccurate or inapplicable to your circumstances.
• The earning power assessment made by the expert overstates your actual earning capacity.
• The expert lacks the qualifications required to render a reliable opinion.

For a free initial consultation about our ability to represent your interests effectively in a vocational interview or earning power assessment, contact the Pittsburgh workers' comp lawyers at Dugan & Associates.