There have been a few times in my life that I have needed a lawyer, and during those times, their help was invaluable. I worked with lawyers during the custody battle for my kids, when I dissolved the partnership for my business and after I suffered an injury at work. In this blog, I plan to write about the law from a range of angles. I may share posts inspired by my personal experiences, what's popular in the news or what strikes my fancy when I'm writing. I have a daughter, Oliva. I manage a medical clinic, and I love blogging. I hope you like the results. My name is Melinda, and thanks for reading!
If you sustain work-related injuries or develop an illness because of the nature of your work, you can be entitled to workers' compensation from your employer. The key question for injured workers is what are the benefits covered under workers' compensation? Read on for further insight.
Medical benefits
Medical treatment is usually provided for injured workers under workers' compensation insurance. Such treatment carries on until the employee recovers fully from their injury or illness. Generally, medical benefits include those costs for doctor appointments, surgeries as well as prescription medicine. Additionally, assistive equipment like wheelchairs may also be provided.
Lost income
An employee who sustains work-related injuries or illness may be advised by their doctor to stay off work for a period of time. This means that they cannot work until they recover fully. This means that they cannot earn the income that they would otherwise earn if they reported to work. Workers' compensation insurance takes this into account and compensates the injured employee for the amount of time they've been out of work.
Permanent disability benefits
If an injured employee is completely disabled and unable to return to the same job or find a similar one, they may be entitled to permanent disability benefits. Based on the agreement with the insurance agent, the injured employee can start receiving a monthly paycheck to compensate both their lost income as well as future earning capacity.
Rehabilitation
Workers' compensation insurance also provides rehabilitation benefits. These include the care and training needed by the injured employee to regain skills and competencies so that they may get back to work. All the costs incurred to retrain the employee so that they can perform their work duties as expected are covered by this section of workers' compensation benefits.
Survivor benefits
In the event that the injury or disease causes the death of the employee, his or her family who were depending on the employee may be entitled to get survivor benefits. Because the employee was the breadwinner of his or her family, survivor benefits seeks to compensate for that loss of economic support. This helps the family soldier on with life.
Unlike personal injury claims, workers' compensation insurance doesn't provide any benefits for pain and suffering. In contrast, benefits are specifically based on the worker's incapacity to work. A compensation lawyer should be able to inform you about the process of filing for workers' compensation as well as the benefits to which you're eligible. Talk to a compensation lawyer immediately after getting injured at work.
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