Generally, Workers’ Compensation benefits would cover a portion of your salary while you couldn’t work. Your employer would not pay you while you were down. However, your company must continue to provide its share of your health insurance premiums.
Workers’ Compensation is a type of insurance that almost all California businesses are required to pay into in case an employee is hurt on the job. It’s no-fault coverage that kicks in no matter how you got hurt.
What Injured California Workers Aren’t Told: Not every victim gets the same level of compensation from Workers’ Comp. By having a skilled California Workers’ Comp Lawyer file your claim and communicate the hardships an injury has caused, you stand to earn much more. This is usually more than you could hope to earn by filing yourself.
How Does My Work Income Get Replaced?
Your injuries suffered at your worksite or in the office are covered by your employer’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance provider. The insurance provider your company paid premiums to would disperse your benefits.
A check would be awarded weekly. It’s usually a percentage of your normal take-home pay. This support is known as Temporary Disability Benefits.
The percentage you receive and the percentage another worker with a similar injury receives can vary greatly. When administrators don’t have all the evidence and don’t know about all of your struggles, they can award you less than you need to support yourself and your family. A skilled attorney helps you win what you’ll need to recover and makes sure the support lasts for as long as you require it.
The DIR Injured Worker’s Handbook goes over all the different types of compensation and benefits available through a claim.
Who Pays for My Medical Care After a Workplace Accident?
Beyond your lost income, your employer’s Workers’ Comp also covers your medical bills.
Paid for by your employer’s Workers’ Comp insurance provider. It can cover the following for injured patients:
- The cost of emergency response and ambulance fees
- Emergency room and hospital bills
- Doctor bills and surgeon fees
- The cost for physical therapy
- The cost of the prescription medicine you need
- The cost of any medical equipment and home renovation your injury requires
- Travel costs going from doctor to doctor and even out-of-area specialists.
Page 10 of the Injured Workers Handbook from the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) also guarantees that victims never have to pay medical bills for an injury that is believed to have happened at work.
“It is illegal for a physician or medical facility to bill a worker if they know the injury is or may be work related. This law is found in California Labor Code Section 3751(b).”
What Else Does California Workers’ Comp Cover?
Your attorney informs Workers’ Comp administrators and judges of every hardship you’ve endured with your injury. That long list must include the financial stresses that a loss of income has caused for you and your family.
The injuries some victims endure will never heal permanently, keeping people from returning to their former lives and careers. They must have the support needed to prepare for a new career. The permanent and even deadly consequences of a major accident must also factor into any settlement with a Workers’ Compensation insurer.
Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit. A voucher to help pay for retraining or skill enhancement, including the cost of vocational therapy for you. These benefits are available to those who are eligible to receive permanent disability benefits, your employer doesn’t offer you work, and you don’t return to work for your employer. This benefit is available for workers injured in 2004 or later. If your injury also occurred in 2013 or later and you received a Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit, you may also be eligible for an additional, one-time payment under the Return-to-Work Supplement Program.
Permanent Disability Benefits. Payments if you don’t recover completely and your injury causes a permanent loss of physical or mental function that a doctor can measure.
Death Benefits. Workers’ compensation provides benefits to families left behind, but an employer could also be sued for contributing to a fatal accident in some cases. A California wrongful death lawyer would explore the family’s options to hold an employer financially responsible for the tragic loss of life.
Seeking the Help of a California Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
If you suffer a serious injury on the job, like a broken bone or a neck or back injury, it’s a good idea to talk over your case with Maison Law in a free case consultation. We want to hear about what happened to you and then help you determine the best course of action for your family.
You may need a lawyer’s help to make sure an employer isn’t let off the hook for unsafe work conditions. Your lawyer could be needed to make sure Workers’ Comp fully understands the severity of your injuries. Your lawyer also works to earn you the maximum in weekly support possible.
If you need our help, you don’t have to worry about finding the money to hire an attorney. We work on a contingency basis. It means if we lose your case, you don’t pay us anything. And if we win your case, we are paid out of the settlement Workers’ Comp awards you.
