St. Louis Workers’ Compensation Attorney
Cynthia Hennessey – Your St. Louis Workers’ Compensation Attorney
I’m Cynthia Hennessey, and I’ve spent more than three decades fighting for injured workers in St. Louis — first by understanding their injuries from the inside, then by understanding how insurance companies value those injuries, and now by representing the people those companies underpay.
If you’ve been hurt on the job in St. Louis, you don’t need a generalist who handles work comp on the side. You need someone who knows the medicine, knows the insurance playbook from the inside, and knows the St. Louis system.
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I would have rather not been hurt and have to hire a lawyer. But it happened and I’m glad I chose Hennessey. They make the process very easy and reduced… read more
Johnathon Wesley
December 2, 2025Best experienced group of people. Who are down to earth and will to help on any level of advice. Highly recommend.
Patrick Vlitzen
December 11, 2025MY NAME IS AYITTEY FARID AND I KNOW I GOT ON THEY LAST NERVE CALLING ALMOST EVERY WEEK ASKING THEM ARE YOU SURE IM GOING TO GET SOMETHING BACK BECAUSE… read more
Ayittey
February 7, 2026 -
I cannot say enough great things about this law firm and the incredible team behind it. From start to finish, they exceeded every expectation I had. They were professional, responsive,… read more
latoya helm
April 7, 2026I got a serious injury at work, the settlement was next to nothing. After the pain and suffering I went through, I thought I deserved more. I contacted Hennessey Law… read more
Emily Ellison
December 29, 2025They helped me out mentally and financially with getting through my workers comp situation. Highly recommended
Dallas Thomas
January 13, 2026 -
“Dear Hennesy Law LLC, Cynthia Hennesy, Rebecca Long, and the rest of the Friendly, Kind, Courteous, and very professional Staff. I wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude for… read more
Patricia Martin
December 3, 2025The best experience I’ve had ever with any law firm. They are prompt on everything! Highly recommend!
Cole Martinez
December 2, 2025Very good listeners,
Becky Allen
January 8, 2026 -
I reached out after receiving a call from the work comp attorneys. They wanted me to sign off on the “standard settlement”. I decided to call Hennessy & I am… read more
Guy Argent
January 8, 2026Hennessey absolutely did a wonderful job with helping my mother. They were diligent, respectful, and determined to get my mom the justice she deserved. We will Always defer to them… read more
Sherita Holland
April 15, 2026I have had an absolute stress free, positive and easy going experience with Hennessey Law Firm, everyone of the ladies I’ve worked with during my case has been extremely professional,… read more
Mikey
February 5, 2026 -
I would like to sincerely thank Hennessy Law Firm for the excellent job they did handling my case. From start to finish, the entire team was professional, responsive, and supportive… read more
R G
February 6, 2026I highly recommend this team. Whenever I had a question or concern, my issue was made a priority. They are very knowledgeable and it didn’t take long for them to… read more
Diana
January 8, 2026The ladies at Hennessy Law Firm are amazing!! They helped with a workers comp case and the they won me an acceptable amount of money.
Brandy Patterson
February 12, 2026
Why St. Louis Workers Choose Hennessey Law Firm
Our office sits on N. New Ballas Road in St. Louis County, five minutes from I-270 and accessible from St. Louis City, St. Charles County, Jefferson County, and the Metro East. We are not a regional satellite office of a national TV-advertising firm — Hennessey Law Firm has been a St. Louis firm for 25 years, and Cynthia Hennessey has lived and practiced workers’ compensation law in this city for over three decades.
That matters in workers’ compensation, because every St. Louis case eventually runs through the same systems and the same people:
- The Missouri Division of Workers’ Compensation, which administers every claim filed by a St. Louis worker through the Work Comp Connect electronic filing system — a system our firm uses for every pleading, motion, and document we file.
- The St. Louis Division office and Administrative Law Judges who hear contested workers’ compensation cases for St. Louis City and St. Louis County.
- The same handful of insurance carriers and third-party administrators who handle work comp claims for major St. Louis employers — most of whom we have litigated against, settled with, or both, many times over.
When you hire a St. Louis attorney who has been in this system for 30 years, you are not paying for someone to learn the players on your case.
St. Louis Industries We Represent Injured Workers From
St. Louis is a city of healthcare systems, utilities, distribution hubs, manufacturing plants, and trades — and most of the workplace injuries we see fall into a handful of clear categories tied to those industries.
Healthcare and hospital workers
St. Louis is anchored by BJC HealthCare, SSM Health, Mercy, and a network of independent hospitals — and nurses, techs, aides, and EVS staff at every one of them face daily risks of patient-handling injuries, needlesticks, exposures, and increasingly, patient assaults. We’ve represented registered nurses from Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis County and from St. Louis-area hospitals where staff were injured during patient altercations. If you’re a healthcare worker in St. Louis, our Nurse Injury Lawyer and Nurse-Patient Assault pages cover the specific issues we see most often.
Utility and energy workers
Ameren UE is one of the largest employers in the St. Louis region, and its line workers, technicians, and field crews do physically demanding work that produces serious injuries. We have represented Ameren UE employees with decades of service whose careers ended after a single workplace incident — and we’ve recovered both lifetime workers’ compensation benefits and seven-figure third-party settlements in those cases.
Distribution, logistics, and delivery
St. Louis sits at the junction of two interstate corridors and the Mississippi River, which makes it a national distribution hub. We’ve represented long-tenured employees of beverage distributors like Grey Eagle Distributors, UPS drivers, garbage truck operators, and warehouse workers across the region. These cases often involve cumulative trauma — back, shoulder, knee, and carpal tunnel injuries that build up over decades of physical work.
Construction and trades
St. Louis construction workers face fall risks, struck-by injuries, equipment injuries, and repetitive strain. We handle workers’ compensation claims for laborers, electricians, plumbers, roofers, and skilled trades workers across the city and county. See our Construction Workers’ Compensation page for more.
Manufacturing and skilled labor
From the Boeing facility in Hazelwood to the auto parts suppliers across the region, St. Louis has a deep manufacturing base. The injuries we see most often in manufacturing are back and shoulder injuries from repetitive lifting, hand and wrist injuries from tooling, and knee injuries from prolonged standing on concrete floors.
Retail, hospitality, and service workers
We represent retail workers, restaurant staff, hotel housekeepers, and service workers across St. Louis whose injuries — slip-and-falls, lifting injuries, repetitive strain — are often dismissed by employers as “minor.” They aren’t, and we don’t treat them that way.
Injured at work in St. Louis? Let’s talk — it costs nothing.
Real St. Louis Workers’ Compensation Case Results
Past results never guarantee a future outcome, but the cases below show the kind of work we do for St. Louis-area workers.
35-Year Ameren UE Employee, St. Louis City — Permanent Total Disability + $1.5 Million Settlement
Our client, a 59-year-old Ameren UE employee with 35 years of service, was seriously injured when his vehicle was T-boned at a St. Louis intersection while working. He suffered a cervical disc herniation that required surgery and extensive treatment, and he was left with permanent lifting restrictions that ended his career at Ameren.
We represented him in both his workers’ compensation case and a personal injury claim against the at-fault driver. We secured permanent total disability benefits — lifetime workers’ compensation — to replace his lost income, and we obtained a $1.5 million settlement to compensate him for lost wages, lost benefits, future medical care, and pain and suffering. This is the kind of case where pursuing both claims simultaneously — and coordinating them — makes the difference between a partial recovery and full financial protection for an injured worker and his family.
Registered Nurse, Mercy Medical Center, St. Louis County — Lifetime Workers’ Compensation Benefits
Our client was a registered nurse at Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis County who sustained a serious low back injury while lifting a patient. She was diagnosed with an L4–L5 herniated disc and ultimately required multiple lumbar surgeries, including a spinal fusion. Her recovery was disappointing — she was left with chronic low back pain requiring both a spinal cord stimulator and a morphine pain pump, and she was unable to return to any form of work.
The employer denied and delayed her care throughout the case. We returned to court repeatedly to compel treatment, secure pain management, and ultimately obtain a full-time non-medical assistant for housekeeping, meal preparation, and household work she could no longer do herself. We secured lifetime workers’ compensation benefits to replace her lost income, and we coordinated her Social Security Disability benefits to bring her overall financial support as close as possible to her pre-injury earnings.
St. Louis-Area Hospital Nurse Assaulted by Patient — $105,000 Settlement
Our client, a registered nurse at a major St. Louis hospital, was injured during an altercation with a patient. She was left with a concussion, persistent headaches, cognitive symptoms, sleep disruption, and diagnosed PTSD. Insurance carriers routinely minimize concussion symptoms and treat psychological trauma as “part of the job” for healthcare workers — and that’s exactly what happened in her case.
Because I am both a registered nurse and an attorney, I understand the medicine behind post-concussive symptoms and the psychiatric reality of PTSD. We secured appropriate neurological evaluation, documented her cognitive and post-concussive symptoms, established a proper psychiatric diagnosis, and ultimately obtained a $105,000 settlement that recognized both the physical and the psychological dimensions of her injury. We’ve published a full case write-up and resource for healthcare workers on our Nurse-Patient Assault page.
What St. Louis Clients Say About Working With Us
“After a life-changing work injury, the 20 months that followed were a test of my sanity. The difficult part was not having representation that understood what I was experiencing or what I needed. I decided to change attorneys, worried it would prolong things — but I’m so glad I did. One Google search, one call, and Hennessey Law Firm took over. In four months, attorney Rebecca Long made it possible for me to get back to my productivity and close that chapter of my life. Thank you, Rebecca and Hennessey Law Firm.”
— Randy Parson Jr., St. Louis, MO
“I did a lot of attorney shopping before committing to the Hennessey Law Firm and was very pleased with the results. The larger firms seemed to just want to cookie cutter the case, and that was not the situation with them. I appreciate everything that they did for me in one of the worst times I had been through in life.”
— John Mattox Jr., Fenton, MO
“I was represented by Hennessey Law Firm and I was very pleased with the outcome of my case. They were very professional in the manner that they handled my case and keeping me informed with updates all the way through from the beginning to the end. They will always be the attorney of my choice.”
— Roy Lillard, St. Louis, MO
How We Handle Your St. Louis Workers’ Compensation Claim
When you call our office, you get a free consultation directly with our team — not a call center screener. If we take your case, your claim is filed through Missouri’s Work Comp Connect electronic system, and Cynthia Hennessey personally reviews your medical records as both a registered nurse and an attorney. From there we either negotiate a fair settlement with the insurance carrier or, if the carrier refuses to make a reasonable offer, we take the case to a final hearing before a Missouri Administrative Law Judge.
For the full operational detail — how we challenge denied medical treatment, work with independent medical experts, pursue Second Injury Fund claims, and prepare cases for trial — see our main Workers’ Compensation page.
St. Louis Workers Compensation injuries we handle
St. Louis Workers’ Comp FAQ
Where does the Missouri Division of Workers’ Compensation hold hearings for St. Louis City and St. Louis County injuries?
Workers’ compensation cases involving St. Louis City and St. Louis County injuries are administered through the Missouri Division of Workers’ Compensation. Contested cases are heard by Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) at Division hearing locations serving the St. Louis region. Our firm regularly appears before the ALJs who hear St. Louis-area cases, and we file all pleadings, motions, and documentation electronically through Missouri’s Work Comp Connect system.
How long do I have to report a workplace injury to my employer in St. Louis, Missouri?
Under Missouri law, you must report your workplace injury to your employer within 30 days of the injury. Written notice is strongly recommended over verbal notice — verbal reports are easy for employers and insurance carriers to dispute later. For repetitive trauma or occupational disease claims (such as carpal tunnel or back injuries that develop over time), the clock typically starts when you become aware that the condition is work-related. The deadline to actually file a claim with the Missouri Division of Workers’ Compensation is generally two years from the date of injury, or three years if the employer fails to file the required injury report — but waiting that long is almost always a mistake.
Does Hennessey Law Firm represent injured workers from St. Louis County, St. Louis City, and surrounding counties?
Yes. Our office is in St. Louis County on N. New Ballas Road, and we represent injured workers throughout the St. Louis metro area — including St. Louis City, St. Louis County (Florissant, Hazelwood, Maryland Heights, Chesterfield, Affton, and surrounding municipalities), St. Charles County, Jefferson County (Arnold, Fenton, Festus), and the Metro East communities in Illinois.
Has Hennessey Law Firm represented healthcare workers from major St. Louis hospitals?
Yes. We have represented registered nurses, hospital techs, and other healthcare workers from Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis County and from major St. Louis-area hospitals across the BJC, SSM, and Mercy systems. Our case results include lifetime workers’ compensation benefits for a Mercy nurse who suffered a herniated disc and required spinal fusion, and a $105,000 settlement for a St. Louis-area hospital nurse who suffered a concussion and PTSD after being assaulted by a patient. Cynthia Hennessey began her career as a registered nurse at SSM Cardinal Glennon and BJC, which gives our firm a unique understanding of the physical and emotional realities healthcare workers face on the job.
What if my employer is in St. Louis but I was injured in Illinois — or vice versa?
This is a common situation in the St. Louis metro because so many workers cross the river daily. The general rule is that you may be eligible to file in either Missouri or Illinois depending on where you were hired, where the injury occurred, and where your employer is based — and the choice of state can significantly affect the value of your claim because Missouri and Illinois workers’ compensation laws differ substantially. Hennessey Law Firm is licensed in both Missouri and Illinois, and we evaluate every cross-border case to determine which state’s system gives our client the best outcome.
How much does it cost to hire a St. Louis workers’ compensation attorney?
Nothing upfront. Workers’ compensation attorneys in Missouri are paid on a contingency fee basis, which means we are paid only if we recover compensation for you — and the fee is capped by Missouri statute at 25% of the recovery. We also advance all litigation expenses, including independent medical evaluations, medical record retrieval, and expert witness costs. If we don’t recover compensation for you, you owe us nothing.
30 Years of St. Louis Workers’ Compensation Experience at Your Service
