If you’re involved in an accident during the course of your job, and you sustain an injury because of it, you may be entitled to workers’ compensation. Not everyone understands this coverage, and you might be one of those people. Workers’ comp is a type of insurance benefit that covers medical care costs related to your workplace injury. If the injury happens outside of work hours, you may not be able to recover costs. The following answers some common questions you might also have.
Who Pays for Coverage?
When you receive your paycheck, you might notice a certain amount that gets taken out of each check for your healthcare coverage premiums. Workers’ compensation does not work the same way and you won’t see anything come out of your check for it. Your employer purchases the policy and pays the premiums each month. For this reason, your employer may be hesitant to file a claim, so you need to be on top of it when you are hurt at work.
What Does Workers’ Comp Cover?
There are a lot of things workers’ comp covers, but not everything you might think. The following are some things you may recover after a workplace injury.
- Medical costs
- Missed work due to recovery
- Permanent impairment or disability
- Vocational rehabilitation
- Death benefits
As you can see, pain and suffering is not included in this. If you feel you’re entitled to other types of compensation, your lawyer may be able to help you find some other avenues to seek it through.
When Will One Receive Compensation?
Each state has laws that vary slightly regarding how long you have to be out of work to receive workers’ compensation payments. Most lost wage benefits can be collected once you have missed work for a total of seven days. On the eighth day, you can begin to collect for lost wages. Medical costs, on the other hand, are covered beginning the moment you are injured, but that doesn’t mean you’ll collect those costs right away. It’s a process that will take time, which is why it’s important you make sure the claim gets filed right away.
Asking a Lawyer for Assistance
When you’re dealing with a workplace injury, you may get overwhelmed at everything that’s going on. It may benefit you to get a lawyer involved to help you meet deadlines, collect proper evidence and get the compensation you deserve. Contact work injury attorneys, like from Rispoli & Borneo, P.C., today to ask for assistance with your case.