Did you get hurt on the job and have questions? Check out these 4 workers’ compensation facts, then call our Buffalo lawyers to get started.
1. Loss of Wage Earning Capacity
Caps is a term used in workers compensation for all neck, back, head injuries incurred after March of 2007. Typically, you will not continue to get weekly benefits for permanent injuries indefinitely.- Upon a finding of permanency, a loss of wage earning capacity is determined based on age, abilities, disability, type of work done, education, and training. A judge determines the percentage of loss of wage earning capacity.
- Workers’ comp law contains a chart that sets forth the remaining weeks for which you will receive benefits based on your percentage of loss of wage earning capacity. For injuries sustained before March 2007, we didn’t have to worry about caps or the number of weeks for which an injured person would receive benefits.
- A caps makes it essential for an injured person to retain a lawyer to deal with the loss of wage earning capacity process for their workers compensation case.
2. Scheduled Loss
- Workers’ compensation contemplates two types of injuries – schedulable injuries and non-schedulable injuries. Schedulable injuries affect the toes, feet, legs, fingers, hands, arms, eyes and ears.
- When schedulable injuries improve as much as can be expected, they are said to have reached maximum medical improvement and we obtain opinions for the scheduled loss of use for that part of the body which corresponds to a dollar amount reduced by the weekly benefits or wages already paid and the remainder is paid to the injured employee as a scheduled loss award.
- Non-scheduled injuries are most often those occurring to the neck and the back – and there is no scheduled award for those injuries.
- Non-scheduled injuries also include head injuries, hernias, and certain diseases for which there are no scheduled loss awards.
3. Applying for Disability Benefits if Your Claim Was Denied
- When a case is denied by the workers compensation carrier, we sat that case has been controverted and no weekly workers compensation benefits will be paid.
- We help our client apply for New York State disability benefits which enable an injured employee to receive New York State disability benefits while their workers compensation claim is being controverted.
- If the claim is successful, the workers compensation carrier must reimburse the New York State disability benefits carrier. Meanwhile, these benefits help pay the bills while your case is being controverted and pushed through the workers compensation system.
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Were you or a loved one injured at work and have questions about these 3 workers’ compensation facts? If you have questions about your work injury case, please contact our Buffalo Workers’ Compensation Attorneys to schedule your legal consultation. We welcome the opportunity to serve you.
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