What Does A Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist Do In A Personal Injury Case?

Any sort of accident can leave long-lasting consequences on your life. This is especially true if the event resulted in serious injuries or a permanent disability. The most challenging part is that just a single new limitation (such as the inability to lift heavy loads) may hinder your income and the ability to find employment.

While you may file a personal injury suit to recover the immediate damages such as medical costs, the loss of income resulting from an accident also needs to be accounted for. This is where a vocational rehabilitation expert comes in.

Here’s what these individuals do and how they can help you achieve your goals in a personal injury suit.

What Does A Vocational Rehabilitation Expert Do?

Vocational rehabilitation is an important process that assists individuals with physical, cognitive, or functional impairments to overcome their limitations, as well as find and maintain gainful employment. Naturally, fulfilling this role takes deep expertise in all vocational aspects, including knowledge of the intricacies of the labor market. 

As such, a vocational rehabilitation expert is qualified to testify in personal injury cases on the plaintiff’s behalf. The expert can provide valuable testimony to the court concerning their client’s earning capacity and employability before and after the injury, thus helping evaluate the full extent of the damages. 

What Qualifications Do Vocational Experts Have?

In most cases, a vocational rehabilitation expert has a certification as a rehabilitation counselor, at least five years of experience in the field, and an MA in Rehabilitation Counseling or other related fields.

According to federal requirements that govern the admission of court evidence and standards, a witness qualified as an expert by skill, training, experience, or education may testify in the form of an opinion if these conditions are met:

• Their specialized knowledge assists the judge or the trier of fact in understanding the evidence or establishing a fact in an issue
• Testimony is based on established facts and data
• Testimony is based on established and reliable methods
• These methods were reliably applied to the case by the expert

A vocational expert is familiar with the current employment market and the requirements of each job available. As such, they can ascertain how the plaintiff’s injuries affect their employability. Due to their education and skills, they meet the requirements imposed on expert witnesses in court, and their testimony will be considered admissible.

Role Of A Vocational Rehabilitation Expert In A Personal Injury Case

The assessment provided by a vocational expert includes economic and non-economic aspects of the case. Due to their experience, they are qualified to evaluate the following aspects of a personal injury case:

• Cost of medical treatments required for the injury, including any medical equipment or medications
• Past, current, and future mental and physical capacity of the plaintiff
• Personal data
• Educational and work history
• Skill and aptitude testing
• Earning capacity and employability before and after the injury

The last point is typically the most critical part of the assessment of the plaintiff. It accurately highlights how the newfound limitation brought on by the injury affects past and future earning capacity. 

Since this data is corroborated by all medical records in the case, the vocational rehabilitation expert can offer a projection on the length of the employment troubles, as well as the overall life expectancy of the plaintiff and how their limitation affects their future losses. Ultimately, all of this helps demonstrate the full extent of the damages and sees to it that the compensation sought from the defendant is substantial enough and correctly accounts for all losses.

How Does A Vocational Rehabilitation Expert Affect A Personal Injury Case?

To put it in the most concise way possible, a vocational expert's involvement significantly strengthens the case and ensures the damages awarded are substantial enough to make the plaintiff whole again. 

In cases with serious injuries, the physical or mental limitations often make it impossible for the plaintiff to perform their job for a considerable amount of time. This may be months, years, and in extreme cases, even the rest of their life. 

A vocational rehabilitation expert provides a data-informed estimate of the impact of these circumstances on the plaintiff's economic situation. These estimates reference factors such as:

• Loss of the plaintiff’s earning capacity
• Costs of medical cost
• Types of jobs that the plaintiff can perform with their limitation
• Effect of the injury on the plaintiff’s ability to perform work-related duties
• Plaintiff’s previous work history and transferable skills

How To Choose The Right Vocational Rehabilitation Expert

Although your attorney will most likely know certain vocational experts they worked with in the past, you do have a say in choosing the person.

When looking for the right vocational rehabilitation experts, you need to start by evaluating their qualifications. This may include confirming whether the expert has a valid state license and if they have testified in cases similar to yours.

In addition, make sure to match the qualifications of your expert to your injuries, if possible. For instance, if the accident and the resulting injuries had a notable effect on your mental health, a vocational rehabilitation expert with a background in psychology will have an easier time demonstrating how your psychological ailments are hindering your ability to work.

Build A Winning Case

A vocational rehabilitation expert testimony paints a full picture of your injuries to the jury, but it also accurately determines the true amount of the damages caused by the accident. Their expertise in the job market, marketable skills, and employment trends help a great deal to establish a link between the economic damages stemming from the loss of earning capacity and the damages caused by medical treatment.

If you don’t know where to start looking for a vocational expert, go with the tried and tested companies. Here at OAS, Inc., we worked tirelessly for four decades to build a spotless reputation and a track record of success. 

Regardless of your needs or your geographic location, experts at OAS help plaintiffs in all parts of the US, and we have the knowledge and the resources to aid you and your attorney build a winning case.

Call us at 1-800-292-1919, or reach us through our online form and we’ll be ready to discuss the facts of your case.

Note: 

The information in this blog post is for reference only and not legal advice. As such, you should not make legal decisions based on the information in this blog post. Moreover, there is no lawyer-client relationship resulting from this blog post, nor should any such relationship be implied. If you need legal counsel, please consult a lawyer licensed to practice in your jurisdiction