ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
A flash fire, a fall from a pipe rack, a back that gave out during a turnaround: refinery injuries rarely look like office injuries, and the claims that follow are rarely simple. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation law firm that represents injured workers across Louisiana and Mississippi, and we handle claims for people hurt inside the fence at plants like the ExxonMobil Baton Rouge refinery, whether they were hurt in East Baton Rouge Parish or came in from surrounding parishes to work a shift.
If you are searching for an ExxonMobil Baton Rouge refinery workers’ compensation lawyer, one fact shapes everything else: the paycheck on your stub may not belong to ExxonMobil. A large share of the people working a refinery site are employed by contractors and subcontractors, such as scaffold builders, pipefitters, insulators, welders, and turnaround crews. Who your employer is, who insures that employer, and whether someone else on the site caused your injury all change what benefits you receive and what other claims you may have.
Refinery claims also tend to involve heavy medical evidence: burns, chemical exposure, crush injuries, spine and shoulder damage from years of physical work. Insurers know that, and they tend to push back hard. The sections below cover how these claims work in Louisiana, where the pressure points are, and what to do in the first days after an injury.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Refinery Injury Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers throughout Louisiana and Mississippi, including Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, New Orleans, Shreveport, and the industrial communities in between. Workers’ compensation is the center of our practice, not a side matter that comes through the door now and then. Our attorneys bring over 75 years of combined experience to claims that have been denied, delayed, or cut off, and we have recovered more than $100 million in settlements for our clients. We charge no fee unless we recover benefits for you, consultations are free, we advance the costs of the case, and our phones are answered 24 hours a day. Hablamos español.
The people behind that work matter. Rob Lunsford, Founding Partner, has spent his entire legal career representing injured workers. Brad Baskin and Jennifer Priebe, both Partners, have been recognized by Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and The National Trial Lawyers, and the firm was ranked by Best Law Firms in 2026 for Workers’ Compensation Law, Claimants, in Jackson. Andrew Rueff has successfully tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict, which matters when an insurer will not move without a hearing. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
The results that bear most on refinery and industrial work include a $221,000 settlement for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns, a $600,000 settlement for a construction worker with a complex back injury, a $685,000 settlement for a surgical tech with a lower back injury, and a $385,000 settlement for a project manager injured after being struck in his work vehicle. We have also resolved a $195,000 case for a derrickhand with complex shoulder injuries from pulling large pipe and a $135,000 case for a diesel mechanic with a SLAP tear. Clients consistently tell us they felt heard, that their attorney stood up to the insurance company, and that the process was easier than they expected.
Injuries and Claims We See From Refinery Work
- Burns and Flash-Fire Injuries: Hydrocarbon fires, steam releases, and hot-work accidents cause deep burns that need grafts, long rehabilitation, and sometimes lifelong scarring. These are among the most serious claims in industrial work and often qualify for benefits beyond temporary wage replacement.
- Back, Neck, and Spine Injuries: Lifting, climbing, awkward positions inside vessels, and years of vibration produce lumbar and cervical disc herniations. Insurers frequently blame degenerative disc disease, so the medical record has to show how the job caused or worsened the condition.
- Shoulder and Knee Tears: Rotator cuff tears, SLAP tears, and meniscus tears come from pulling pipe, working overhead, and climbing structures. Employers sometimes call these old sports injuries, which makes early imaging and a clear work history important.
- Fractures and Crush Injuries: Falls from scaffolding and platforms, dropped equipment, and caught-in-between accidents break feet, ankles, hips, and wrists, often requiring specialists and multiple surgeries.
- Chemical and Inhalation Exposure: Benzene, hydrogen sulfide, and other process chemicals can cause immediate respiratory injury or conditions that surface later. These claims turn on exposure records and medical causation.
- Hearing Loss and Occupational Illness: Years near compressors, flares, and heavy machinery can cause permanent hearing damage, and some workers develop lung or other conditions tied to the work environment.
- Contractor and Turnaround Worker Claims: Workers hired through staffing firms or subcontractors often have disputes over who the employer is and which insurer owes benefits. We sort that out early so treatment is not delayed.
- Third-Party Injury Claims: When a negligent driver, equipment maker, or unrelated contractor causes the injury, a separate personal injury claim may exist alongside comp benefits.
What to Do After a Refinery Injury in Louisiana
Report the injury in writing, and do it right away. Louisiana law bars a compensation proceeding unless the employer receives notice within thirty days of the injury, and a formal claim generally has to be filed within one year of the accident. If benefits have already been paid, that filing window may stretch to three years from the last payment, but do not count on an exception. At a refinery, report through your supervisor and the site safety or HSE office, and keep a copy of whatever you submit. If you are a contractor employee, report to your own employer as well as the site.
Get medical care and be specific with the doctor about how the injury happened. Vague histories like “my back hurts” become the insurer’s best evidence later. Tell every provider it happened at work, name the task, and describe each symptom. Take photographs of the area, collect names of coworkers who saw the incident, and write down the date, time, equipment, and conditions while you still remember them clearly.
Be careful with recorded statements and site medical clinics. The adjuster is gathering information for the insurer, not for you, and an offhand comment about an old injury or a prior ache can be turned into a pre-existing condition defense. You are entitled to speak with a lawyer before giving a statement.
If the insurer refuses a treatment your doctor recommends, the clock gets very short. A dispute over denied medical care starts with filing LWC Form 1009 within 15 calendar days of getting written notice of the denial, and the Office of Workers’ Compensation medical director then has 30 calendar days to issue a decision. If that decision goes against you, you have 45 days from the date it was issued to file Form 1008. The clock runs from issuance, not from when you open the mail. Missing either deadline can cost you the surgery or injections your doctor ordered.
Claims in Louisiana go before workers’ compensation judges at the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration. The worker chooses the venue: the parish where the injury happened, the parish where you lived when you were hurt, or the parish of the employer’s principal place of business. The state operates a district court in Baton Rouge, and cases decided in that district are appealed to the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal. A final judgment can be appealed within thirty days when the appeal suspends the judgment, or sixty days when it does not, and the period runs from the day after the judgment is signed or the day after notice of judgment is mailed, whichever is later. A further review by the Louisiana Supreme Court is sought by writ application within 30 days of notice of the First Circuit’s judgment.
Wage Benefits When You Cannot Return to the Unit
Louisiana workers’ compensation pays reasonable and necessary medical treatment, plus weekly wage benefits while you cannot work. Temporary total disability benefits replace a portion of your wages while you are fully off work. The weekly rate is two-thirds of your average weekly wage, subject to a maximum that is set by statute and tied to the date of your accident. That cap is adjusted periodically, and it does not change after the fact for an accident that has already happened. For high-earning refinery and turnaround workers, the cap often means compensation is a fraction of what the paycheck used to be, which is one reason settlements and benefit disputes carry real financial weight.
When you can work again but cannot earn what you used to, supplemental earnings benefits come into play. They apply when the injury leaves you unable to earn 90 percent or more of your pre-injury wages, and they pay 66 2/3 percent of the difference between what you earned before and what you earn or are able to earn now. Those benefits can continue until you are released to full duty, you are back to earning your pre-injury wages, or you reach the 520-week maximum, and weeks of temporary total disability count toward that 520.
Return-to-work is where many refinery claims go sideways. An insurer may send you to a doctor of its choosing, claim you can handle light duty, or run a labor market survey saying jobs exist that you can do. A worker with a damaged shoulder or lumbar spine who has spent twenty years in the trades may not be able to do any of them. We build the medical and vocational evidence to answer those arguments rather than leaving your benefits to the adjuster’s version of your restrictions.
When Someone Other Than Your Employer Caused the Injury
Workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy against your own employer, but it does not shield everyone on a busy industrial site. A negligent driver who hits your work truck, a manufacturer whose defective equipment fails, or an unrelated contractor whose unsafe work endangers others can face a separate injury claim. Those cases can recover damages that comp does not pay, and they have their own deadlines. Louisiana’s period for most injury lawsuits is two years from the day the injury was sustained for injuries on or after July 1, 2024, while earlier injuries stay under the old one-year period.
Fault matters in these third-party claims. For causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault recovers nothing, and lower percentages reduce the award proportionally. That is a sharp change from the earlier pure comparative fault rule, and it makes early evidence preservation more important. Comp benefits generally are not reduced by your own fault, but a parallel injury claim can be, so we coordinate the two so one does not undercut the other. If a family has lost a worker on the job, wrongful death claims follow the longer of one year from death or two years from the injury.
Questions About Refinery Workers’ Compensation Claims
Do I need a lawyer if I was hurt at the ExxonMobil refinery?
Not every claim requires one, but if your benefits have been denied, delayed, reduced, or cut off, or if your injury will keep you out of work for a long time, a lawyer can make a major difference. Refinery claims often involve multiple companies, large medical bills, and insurers with their own lawyers.
I work for a contractor, not ExxonMobil. Can I still get comp benefits?
Yes. Contractor and subcontractor employees injured on a plant site are generally covered through their own employer’s workers’ compensation policy. Which insurer pays, and whether another party on the site may also be liable, depends on the facts of your employment and the contract chain.
How long do I have to report a work injury in Louisiana?
Report it right away. Louisiana law bars a compensation proceeding unless the employer gets notice within thirty days of the injury. A written report to your supervisor and the safety office, with a copy kept for yourself, is the safest approach.
How long do I have to file a claim?
A formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident. If compensation payments have been made, the deadline may extend to three years from the last payment. Because exceptions are narrow, filing sooner is better.
What does workers’ compensation pay?
It pays all reasonable and necessary medical treatment, weekly wage replacement while you are temporarily unable to work, supplemental earnings benefits if you return at reduced pay, and additional benefits for permanent disability, catastrophic injury, or death.
What if the insurance company says my condition was pre-existing?
A pre-existing condition does not automatically end your claim. If your job caused, worsened, or sped up the condition, you may still be entitled to benefits. Strong medical evidence connecting the work to the change in your condition is the core of answering that argument.
What can I do if the insurer denies the surgery my doctor recommends?
You have 15 calendar days from written notice of the denial to file LWC Form 1009 with the Office of Workers’ Compensation. The medical director then has 30 calendar days to decide. Missing that first window can seriously weaken your position, so call a lawyer as soon as you receive a denial.
Can I be fired or blacklisted for filing a claim?
Louisiana protects workers from being fired in retaliation for filing a comp claim. If you were let go, disciplined, or pushed out after reporting an injury, tell us during your consultation so we can review it. Losing a contractor badge or site access after a report deserves a closer look too.
Can I sue ExxonMobil in addition to receiving comp benefits?
If ExxonMobil is your direct employer, workers’ compensation is generally your exclusive remedy against it. If you work for a contractor, a claim against a third party at the site may be possible when that party’s negligence caused the injury. Who is responsible depends on the facts, and we review that early.
How does a settlement work, and will it close my medical care?
Many comp claims resolve through settlement, but the terms matter. A settlement can close out wage benefits, medical benefits, or both, and once approved it is difficult to undo. Before agreeing to anything, we compare the offer against your future surgeries, treatment needs, and lost earning ability.
What happens if I lose at the hearing level?
A judgment by a workers’ compensation judge can be appealed to the Louisiana court of appeal. Cases from the Baton Rouge district go to the First Circuit. The appeal deadline is thirty days if the appeal suspends the judgment and sixty days if it does not, so the decision to appeal needs to be made quickly.
Do you speak Spanish?
Yes. Hablamos español, and Spanish-speaking workers can work with our team in their own language from the first call to the end of the case.
Serving Refinery Workers Across East Baton Rouge Parish and South Louisiana
We represent injured workers who commute into East Baton Rouge Parish from every direction. That includes Baton Rouge itself and nearby communities such as Zachary, Baker, Central, and Port Allen across the river in West Baton Rouge Parish, along with Gonzales, Prairieville, and Geismar in Ascension Parish, Plaquemine in Iberville Parish, and Denham Springs and Walker in Livingston Parish. We also serve workers from Pointe Coupee, East Feliciana, and West Feliciana parishes who make the drive to the industrial corridor.
Our work reaches across the rest of South Louisiana’s plant country, including New Orleans, Lafayette, and Lake Charles, and north to Shreveport. We handle claims for refinery, petrochemical, construction, and oilfield workers throughout Louisiana, and we also represent injured workers across Mississippi, from Jackson and Madison to the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, and the Delta. Wherever you were hurt and wherever you live, we can talk through your claim.
Speak With a Baton Rouge Refinery Workers’ Compensation Attorney
If you were hurt at the ExxonMobil refinery or any plant in the Baton Rouge area, the deadlines in your claim are already running. A Baton Rouge refinery workers’ compensation attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review what happened, identify who your employer and insurer are, and tell you whether other parties may be responsible. Consultations are free, there is no fee unless we recover benefits for you, and our phones are answered 24 hours a day. Call us, or send us your case details, and we will tell you where you stand. We help injured workers. That is what we do.
