251-217-9733
Alabama Workers’ Compensation Defense
Defending employers, carriers, and administrators, and the second claim that follows the first.
What Workers' Compensation Defense Involves
Workers' compensation is the system through which employees injured on the job receive medical treatment and wage replacement without having to prove fault, and through which employers, in exchange, are generally protected from ordinary negligence suits by their employees.
Defense work involves examining whether the injury arose out of and in the course of employment, whether the medical treatment and disability being claimed are supported, and whether the compensation being sought matches what the statute provides.
The exposure that catches employers out is not usually the claim itself. It is what happens to the employee afterwards. Terminating, demoting, or disciplining someone who has filed a claim can produce a separate action for retaliatory discharge, which does not operate under the same framework and can be worth considerably more.
Who We Defend
Employers
Direct defense of the business, including the decisions made about the employee after the injury.
Insurance carriers
Defending insured employers and coordinating with claims teams.
Third-party administrators
Self-insured programs and administered claims.
Retaliatory discharge claims
Defense of separate actions alleging the employee was penalized for filing.
Compensability disputes
Whether the injury arose out of and in the course of employment at all.
Medical and disability disputes
Extent of injury, treatment necessity, and the degree of impairment claimed.
Return-to-work issues
Light duty, accommodation, and the intersection with employment law obligations.
Subrogation and third-party recovery
Where a third party caused the injury and recovery may be available.
Sound familiar?
How We Defend These
Investigate immediately
Witness accounts, scene conditions, and medical history are strongest in the first days. Compensability is frequently decided by facts that stop being available within weeks.
Watch the second claim
Almost every retaliatory discharge case we defend was created by a decision made about the employee after the injury, usually without anyone thinking of it as a legal decision.
Resolve what should be resolved
Some claims are compensable and fighting them costs more than paying them. We are not a firm that needs the hours, and we will tell you when that is the case.
Who Does This Work
William R. Lancaster
Best Lawyers in America 2025 "Lawyer of the Year" for Workers' Compensation Law (Employers). Four decades of defense practice and more than a hundred cases tried to judgment across Alabama and Mississippi.
Jordan W Gerheim
Workers' compensation defense alongside the employment litigation and advisory work, so the comp claim and the employment exposure are handled together.
The Claim You Did Not See Coming
Most employers approach a workers' compensation claim as a single problem to be managed. The claim is filed, the carrier handles it, and the business gets on with things, including, at some point, making a decision about the employee.
Termination after a claim
Even for a genuine, documented, unrelated reason. The timing alone invites the inference and you will be explaining it.
Demotion or reduced hours
Frequently intended as accommodation and read as punishment.
Refusing reasonable light duty
Creates exposure under both the compensation framework and employment law.
Discipline for the injury itself
Safety enforcement is legitimate; enforcing it only against the person who filed is not.
How These Matters Are Billed
Want a number for your situation?
Related Services
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we terminate an employee who has filed a workers' compensation claim?
Sometimes, for a genuine and well-documented reason unrelated to the claim, but it is one of the highest-risk decisions an employer can make, and the timing alone will invite scrutiny. If you are contemplating it, get advice first. This single conversation prevents more litigation than anything else on this page.
The injury did not happen at work. Do we still have to pay?
Compensability turns on whether the injury arose out of and in the course of employment, and that question is often less clear than either side initially assumes. Investigate immediately (witness accounts, scene conditions, and contemporaneous records are strongest in the first days and deteriorate quickly).
Do we have to offer light duty?
It frequently benefits the employer to do so, both in reducing the claim and in demonstrating good faith. It also interacts with employment law obligations that sit outside the compensation system, so the offer should be structured deliberately rather than improvised.
Someone else caused our employee's injury. Can we recover?
Potentially, through subrogation or a third-party action, and it is worth examining early. A defective machine, a negligent contractor on site, or a motor vehicle accident during work can all shift some of the cost, but only if the potential recovery is identified before evidence and deadlines are lost.
Do you represent injured employees?
No. Our workers' compensation practice is employer, carrier, and administrator side. If you are an injured worker, we will point you toward counsel who handle claimant work.
Related Insights
Before You Make a Decision About That Employee
Book a Risk-Free Strategy Session. The conversation before an adverse employment decision is the cheapest and most useful hour in this practice area.