Workers’ compensation is a way to pay employees who have been injured on the job. This can be paid as medical treatment or as a benefit, depending on what they need and how to hurt they are. It’s an important factor for employees that have suffered serious work-related injuries since it can help them through this trying time. Knowing what makes up workers compensation helps workers be aware of their rights and know what to expect after an injury, and there are a few different factors that go into determining how much workers compensation someone can get.
1. What Is Workers’ Compensation?
Workers’ compensation is money that’s paid to an injured worker so they can afford medical care or living accommodations after the injury happens. The payments are normally made through their employer, but sometimes they’re given out of a special fund set up by the government. It’s important to note that, as a workers compensation attorney from Baltimore points out, this isn’t an automated process. Even when it’s obvious you got injured at work, and that the injury is making it impossible to work, you still have to file a claim with the state agency that’s responsible for workers compensation. The proper way to do that will depend on the state you’re in.
Talking to a lawyer, or looking for relevant information about the labor laws in your state, will help you with this process. All that said, it’s important to stress that in practically every state, the injury suffered had to have been an accident, and it had to be related to your job in a significant way. If you were driving to your work, for example, and another car ran a red light causing an accident that resulted in you getting injured – this wouldn’t qualify as a work-related injury even though you were on that road at that time because you had to go to work. Read more about the Personal injury lawyers near me.
2. Official Documents And Working Conditions
If your work injury necessitates professional medical attention, always make sure to get a doctor’s note saying that you can’t work, as well as a copy of your record. This will be important for the workers compensation agency to figure out how much to pay you. When it comes to a compensation claim, the injured worker needs to seek medical assistance from the doctor of their choosing, and the employer might, and usually will, request that they go to a doctor of their choosing as well. This is to ensure that there were no pre-existing conditions that contributed to the accident, and it allows for a medical professional to give an official diagnosis. If you work with heavy machinery or in another risky environment, the company should have a chief medical advisor whose role is to determine what kind of working conditions are to be considered safe. As already mentioned, while a work injury has to be an accident, it’s important to conclude how the accident happened. If the safety standards were lacking – either because the chief medical advisor didn’t do his job properly, due to poor maintenance, or because of any other reason that would prove that it occurred because of reasons out of your control – you’ll be able to receive higher compensation.
3. Changes In Life Quality And Lost Wages
Another factor that comes into consideration when you file a workers compensation claim is the changes in your life quality and your lost wages. It’s possible for those things to become as important as the medical expenses, as it’s still part of the damage done to you by virtue of having been injured at work. There are several factors that determine the quality of life including the degree of the injury, your age, pre-existing medical conditions, and even psychological aspects. If you are not able to do all the work that was expected out of you before the accident happened, then it’s possible for you to receive additional compensation for that as well. When it comes to lost wages, this is pretty straightforward – if you’ve lost the ability to do the job that you used to be able to, then you’ll receive compensation for that, and most of it will be determined by how much your salary was.
4. The Gravity Of The Injury
This factor is the one that’s most individual for every case. Basically, it all comes down to how much your injury affected you and if it will stay with you even after you recover from the injuries. If your injury was something like a broken bone or a sprained muscle, then the agency won’t likely pay as high of compensation. However, if you’re left with a permanent disability after the injury – something that makes you unable to work for the rest of your life – then it’s likely that you’ll receive high compensation. A similar thing is true in the case that you have a permanent disability that makes you unable to do the job you previously did, but are still able to do some sort of job – the agency will determine just how much compensation you’re entitled to and might even consider your age and life expectancy when deciding on that. This is another reason why it’s so important to document everything properly, as well as seek legal assistance if needed.
5. Finalized Rating
When the commission takes all of the previously mentioned factors into account, they’ll make the final decision. As it was already stated, there are a lot of variables to be considered with each one of them coming down to individual circumstances, so there is no fixed number that you might expect. In general, the commission will use the amount that the lawyers are fighting for as a basis for the amount of compensation the worker is entitled to, and once they determine the fair value on that, they’ll usually multiply it by 2/3 of the worker’s weekly wages. However, this might differ from state to state, and in the case of a permanent disability, the final amount is likely going to be significantly higher than that. While this is related to individual circumstances, you can always look at some of the recent cases that were similar to yours, if they are publicly available, to get a sense of what you might expect. That said, if your lawyer has experience in these sorts of cases, they might be able to provide you with a ballpark figure as well.
Workers’ compensation is a type of insurance that’s meant to protect you and your interests in case you get injured while working. Depending on the kind of injury that you’ve suffered, how it affected your quality of life, and what job exactly was lost as a result – this can be compensated in accordance with the law. It’s important to learn about how it’s calculated so that you know what to expect, and which steps to take.
