Free Information and Resources for Workers in New Hampshire
There are all sorts of free information resources available for employees facing time out of work, particularly for disability related to an accident or serious injury. You just need to know where to look... Here are my top tips for FREE information regarding compensation and job protection for serious injuries, illness or disability:
1) Take advantage of the many offers by employment law firms to provide free phone consultations. At Rice Law Office, PLLC, we provide free phone case evaluations for injured or disabled workers who think they may have been unfairly denied compensation or job protection as a result of a serious injury, an illness or work accident. In addition, there are many good firms across the state of New Hampshire that would be happy to answer employees' questions regarding cases involving Worker's Compensation, disability leave, or Social Security benefits.
2) Search the internet to uncover an amazing amount of FREE information. It takes little more than a few tries at a search term to uncover reams of helpful articles on many topics, many of which are written by top legal professionals. Of course, you may have to wade through several ads for law firms and some junk, but good information is there.
3) Review information on government agency websites. State and federal agencies offer tips, access to laws and regulations, and answers to frequently asked questions on their websites. Here are a few of my favorites:
- For employees with a work injury- visit the New Hampshire Department of Labor website at https://www.nh.gov/labor/
- For state employees facing disability leave, accidental injury or retirement, visit the New Hampshire Retirement System homepage at https://www.nhrs.org/
- For those who have been laid off or fired, the Department of Employment Security at http://www.nhes.nh.gov/ , or the Department of Labor website (same one as above) can be helpful regarding eligibility for unemployment benefits or wage claims (DOL).
- If the disability or injury is so serious that it looks like you'll be out of work for 12 months or more, it's worth considering an application for Social Security disability. The SSA website is chock full of information, but beware there are lots of websites with addresses close to the official one trolling for your business, so be sure to use the correct address: https://www.ssa.gov/
- Of course, there's also the federal Department of Labor website at https://www.dol.gov/, which can be helpful, but which won't necessarily give you the information you need specific to New Hampshire employee rights.
- Last but not least, are the websites for the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights at https://www.nh.gov/hrc/ and the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission at https://www.eeoc.gov/ . These websites provide information regarding disability discrimination and employee rights under the law.
