A large portion of the United States economy depends on mid and small sized businesses. California is no exception to this rule. If you own or operate a business, you already know there are many “moving parts” to making sure the business grows and thrives. Everything from marketing, to attracting the right clients, to paying your bills on time are all essential to keeping the business running smoothly. Collecting accounts receivable is a cornerstone of good business practice. Running an interpreter business likely means that you are facing a high amount of accounts receivable. This is especially true if you provide interpreter services in the context of the workers’ compensation system. While you are certainly able to do your own collections, there are reasons that using an attorney for your non-treatment collections is a better idea than trying to accomplish this yourself.
The most obvious reason is that using an attorney for your collection efforts will leave you free to focus on your business. Doing your own collections or asking a member of your staff to do so means that your talents and attention is split from the services you want to provide to your clients. Your skill set is in providing the best and most accurate interpreting services possible to make sure that the legal case is decided properly and proceeds smoothly. If you retain an attorney to help you with your non-treatment collections, you can focus on what you do best and let your attorney do the collection work for you.
Another essential reason you should consider using an attorney for your non-treatment collections is that workers’ compensation, like so many other areas of the law, is highly technical. In order to make sure you get paid by the insurance carriers during a workers’ compensation suit, you need to make sure your invoices are sent within a certain time frame and those invoices must contain very specific information. If you do not adhere to the statutory requirements for your collection efforts, it is possible you will never get paid at all. Having an attorney helping you in this department means that you will have your invoices compliant with the law so that you can actually pursue collection efforts.
One of the best reasons to use an attorney for non-treatment collections is that using an attorney for this service could end up being totally free to you. Some collection efforts for workers’ compensation cases will mean that your hearing representative may take a percentage of the amount collected as his or her fee. However, there are some cases, such as some non-treatment collection cases, which will allow the attorney to collect the fee from the insurance carriers. If the insurance carrier exhibits bad faith in delaying payment or otherwise shows unnecessary delay, California law allows the interpreter and his or her attorney to request penalties and fees from the carrier. In other words, using an attorney can make sure that you get paid your fee from an insurance carrier that is dragging its feet without having to pay the attorney directly.
If you have questions about workers’ compensation, contact us today. We can talk with you about your interpreter business and what we can do to help you.