Is A Work Comp Considered Public Record And Should I Hire A Lawyer For It Even If My Employer Decided It Was A Work Injury?

I hurt myself at work. I went to ER and I had a herniated disc in my neck. Laid me off from work n was told to consult a specialist. I went to my pain management doctor and they told me I have herniated disc and they wanted me to be off work. Asked work n they wanted me going to there doctor. He said I was faking it and that it was caused by an old condition that I’ve had previously. N tried to force me to go back to work. I declined and returned to my first doctor, and she fired me again. Meanwhile it was the holiday and no one was there to provide answers to those questions. Due to this, after 3 weeks, I proceeded to seek the services a lawyer to represent me. Overall not sure if I made the right decision still on a lot of meds I went to work the next day with a new note regarding the claim and my boss told me that work was excepting the claim. So is a lawyer needed? How does that work? I signed something about they get 20% but 20% of what? My weekly wages?