Workers' Compensation Intake

Workers' Compensation Intake Training

Workers' compensation callers are hurt, worried about income and often unsure whether they are allowed to call a lawyer. Intake has to be calm and has to stay away from every question about benefits and deadlines.

Start With the Call Audit or book a conversation

What is different about workers' compensation intake

Callers are often injured and worried about their job and their income at the same time.
Many have questions about what their employer or the insurer told them, and every one of those belongs to the attorney.
Timing feels urgent to the caller, so a held slot and a quick next step matter.

The method does not change. The five stages, the 14-item scorecard and the boundary are the same. What changes is the wording, the questions to ask and where the pressure shows up.

Two Calls

The same moment, answered two ways

"Can my employer fire me for this?"

The caller says: "My boss said I should not hire a lawyer. Can he do anything to me?"

What most desks say

"No, they cannot do that. You have rights."

Reassuring, and a legal answer from a non-lawyer.

What a trained desk says

"That is exactly the question for the attorney, and I do not want to guess at it. I am writing it down so she has it in front of her and goes through it with you at the consultation. Would Thursday at ten or Friday at two be easier?"

The question is handed off with a promise it will be answered, and the call ends on a time.

"I am out of work"

The caller says: "I cannot work right now. I cannot afford to wait."

What most desks say

"We will get back to you as soon as we can."

No time, no owner, no next step.

What a trained desk says

"I understand, and I want to get you in front of the attorney quickly. I have [earliest time] open. Can you make that, or would [second option] work better? I will also call you tomorrow at [time] to confirm."

Urgency is answered with a specific time and a promised call, with no outcome promised.

Questions that always go to the attorney

These come up on workers' compensation calls all the time. Intake does not answer them; it hands them off with the fixed line and asks for the next step.

"Am I entitled to benefits?"
"Can I choose my own doctor?"
"What if I get hurt again?"

The hand-off wording and the full boundary are on the line between intake and the attorney. Wording on this page is an example only; the firm and the attorney set the final wording against their jurisdiction's rules. Scope, plainly: everything on this site concerns the conversation that turns an inquiry into an engagement. Nothing here is legal advice, nothing touches the legal work or the attorney's judgment, and any wording a firm adopts is reviewed by the firm against its jurisdiction's rules on attorney advertising, solicitation and fee communication before it is used.

About the Author

Dr. Jeffrey Scott Stanton, DCH is a behavioral strategist and the founder and Chief Learning Officer of R2R Diagnostic Group. He is the former EVP of Learning & Development at Douglas Elliman Real Estate, where he trained sales professionals on the conversations that turn an inquiry into a commitment. He applies the same method, the R2R Assessment and a 14-item call-review scorecard, to law firm intake teams. The work is the conversation only; legal questions and judgment stay with the attorney.

The method, the scripts and the scorecard are on how it works, the script template and the scorecard guide.