Sounds like they puled this because they knew your reg atty was going to be gone...
Seems like the fill in could have said "quiet please I'll explain later.". how unprofessional to say shut up to a client!

WC is paying the atty, yes out of your checks from wc, but that all should have been explained clearly to you, buy your atty before or when your signed the contract with them.

You may also get billed for phone conferences between attys. I did.
my atty "forgot" to add it into the case fees, so he billed me after I got the small settlement.

They have the injured workers over a barrel, because it's too hard to do our own claim, we're usually in pain and stressed already ,and they get a % of the payout , no matter what...