Workers’ Compensation Benefits

What benefits should you be owed with a successful workers’ compensation claim after suffering a work injury? There might be some minor variances depending on your career and state of employment, but workers’ compensation benefits are fairly standardized across all situations.

When you collect workers’ compensation benefits, it should include:

• Wages: 

  If your work-related injury makes it impossible for you to return to work for more than seven days, you should be given wage compensation equal to 66.66% of your usual pay rate each week, up to a maximum of 500 weeks. There are weekly caps in each state that prevent you from collecting more than a certain amount in usual wages. In North Carolina, the cap is currently (circa 2017) set at $978 per week.

• Medical costs:
  

  The cost of any approved medical procedure, diagnosis, appointment, or medication should be covered entirely by your workers’ compensation benefits. It is crucial that you always see the doctor after a work injury and always adhere to all instructions. Otherwise, you could be liable for medical costs due to jeopardizing your health.

• Travel expenditures: 

  You can request financial reimbursement for the cost of traveling for necessary medical treatment so long as you must travel more than 20 miles. If your injury does not prevent you from driving your car, this reimbursement might just be the cost of gas. It is still worth pursuing if you are owed it.

• Vocational rehabilitation: 

  Some injuries are so severe, and you cannot return to your same line of work, no matter how much time goes by. When this happens, your employer may be obligated to supply you with vocational rehabilitation training to find you another position of similar pay in the company or elsewhere. For severely injured employees, this is arguably the most crucial benefit of workers’ compensation coverage.

• Final expenses: 

  The families of workers who lose their lives in a work-related accident can seek a unique set of workers’ compensation coverage. It generally will provide either the decedent’s wages or compensation for necessary living expenses for a set amount of time. It may also include costs for final expenses, such as funeral and burial arrangements. This can be one of the most challenging forms of workers’ comp benefits to receive if the insurer denies it.