Workers’ compensation and personal injury cases share a few similarities, such as providing financial assistance for paying medical bills. However, for the most part, workers’ comp does not work the same way as personal injury cases do because the financial assistance also covers work-related financial matters.
Designed to help an injured employee recover, workers’ compensation also provides employees with financial assistance to help cope with the inability to perform standard job functions on a long-term basis.
Let’s review the benefits offered by workers’ compensation programs in the United States.
Medical Expenses
As the most significant financial benefit delivered by worker’s comp program throughout the United States, paying off medical bills allows workers to cover the costs associated with physician visits, diagnostic tests, the use of equipment during treatments, and prescription medications. Workers’ compensation programs typically pay for the travel costs of an injured employee that has to have specialized surgery completed at a world-renowned medical center.
Even if an employee does not miss any time from work, the employer is financially responsible for paying medical expenses under workers’ compensation programs.
Temporary Disability
A majority of disability pay in workers’ compensation programs take care of the short-term costs of living with a temporary disability. This financial benefit takes care of lost wages while an employee goes through treatment for a work-related injury.
Permanent Disability
When a work-related injury does not fully heal, workers’ compensation pays for the permanent inability to continue functioning on the job. Permanent disability represents the costliest component of an employer’s workers’ compensation insurance plan. It is a common feature of plans that cover employees that work in high-risk jobs.
Supplemental Job Displacement Benefits
As a voucher used for retraining an employee, supplemental job displacement benefits are paid out when a worker qualifies for permanent disability benefits. Employers do not offer replacement work under this feature and workers do not return to work for the employer. This financial benefit applies to employees hurt on the job after 2004. For employees that suffered on-the-job injuries after 2013, they might qualify for a one-time-only return-to-work supplement program payment.
Death Benefits
As a form of life insurance coverage, the death benefits paid out for a worker’s compensation plan go to the surviving dependents of the worker who died because of a work-related injury.
Other federal laws that protect workers when they suffer a work-related injury include the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA). Both public policy programs require employers that have at least 50 workers on payroll to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to help employees recover from a serious injury.
For employees injured at work that suffer from the medical consequences of a long-term disability, the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibit employers from discriminating against injured employees that live with a long-term disability.
Contact an Employment Attorney for Legal Advice
Although employers are required by law to pay for workers’ comp insurance, some employers fight claims for financial assistance to keep annual premium payments down. If you have experienced difficulty receiving approval for worker’s compensation payments, contact the experienced employment lawyers at PLBH Law Firm to receive help recovering the money that you deserve.
You can reach us at (800) 435-7542 or by submitting the convenient online form.