Workers’ compensation insurance is your employer’s way of ensuring you’re taken care of if you get injured on the job. Unless you believe you were injured on purpose, there is no need for a civil case. You simply file your workers’ compensation claim and get the money you need for your bills and suffering.
Disability
There’s a good chance that the injury you suffered has caused you some kind of disability. This will come up with your workers’ compensation claim and is important to understand what it entails. In this context, there are four types of disabilities:
- Partially temporarily disabled
- Partially permanently disabled
- Totally temporarily disabled
- Totally permanently disabled
Partially Temporarily Disabled
This refers to an injury that has left you only partially disabled and will only last for a certain amount of time—basically, you’ll recover in the near future.
With this type of injury, the insurance company will decide the maximum benefits you will receive. Then they will pay this amount out in scheduled payments. You will receive these payments until you go back to work or your injuries are seen as permanent.
Partially Permanently Disabled
While it may only be a partial disability, if the injury has disabled you for life, your payout will be much different than the above. Instead, you’ll receive percentages of your maximum benefit paid out every month for the rest of your life. If your condition improves somehow, then you’ll have to be reevaluated.
In most states, like Maryland, if the partial disability is a certain amount under 50%, you’ll be offered a lump sum instead.
Totally Temporarily Disabled
You could have been injured so badly that you’re effectively unable to do your job because you are completely disabled. In scenarios where this will only be a temporary status, you’ll usually be paid out your full benefit. Once you return to work, obviously, the payments will stop.
Totally Permanently Disabled
Unfortunately, some workers are injured in a way that permanently leaves them disabled. This not only takes them out of their job, but really the whole workforce. In this case, you’ll receive Maryland’s full benefit amount every month for the rest of your life.
Exceptions
It’s important to understand that every state has its own laws regarding workers’ compensation. The same injury could happen to similar people in the same line of work, but if one is in Maryland and one is in Pennsylvania, their experiences will be different.
On top of that, workers’ compensation won’t cover those who were injured on the job if they are shown to have brought the injury on themselves or otherwise acted in a manner that made the accident their own fault. You can’t, for example, get workers’ compensation for a severed limb if you were tossing a power saw from one hand to the other.
Whenever you have a workers’ compensation claim, it’s important that you speak with an attorney to make sure you’re handling this very important matter correctly. At Ingerman and Horwitz, we have almost 30 years of experience and over 50 professionals who can help you with your claim. Contact us today for your free consultation. We’re here to help.
