Workers’ compensation is in place to protect workers who are injured on the job, which can happen in a blink of an eye.
One accidental wrong move while working on a machine without safety guards in place and fingers on a hand can be severed.
Workers’ compensation insurance – which most employers are required to have – is unlike a personal injury lawsuit because it is a type of insurance that all employers pay into a pool, like health insurance. Because workers’ compensation is established as a way to protect injured employers, you cannot sue an employer to cover these damages.
There are work comp benefits, however, and they include:
- Temporary disability. If an employee requires more than three days off of work because of a work-related injury, workers’ compensation provides two-thirds of their gross weekly wage. The first three days are unpaid, unless the worker requires more than 21 days off. Then those three days are back paid. The amount of pay an employee is eligible for is capped.
- Temporary partial disability. With partial disability, you may be allowed to return to work in some capacity while you recover, but that work might be limited or you may no longer be able to perform the same job you did before. If your employer offers you modified or part-time work, workers’ compensation could pay up to 300 weeks of payments to equal the wages you were earning before you were injured, or until you recover from your injuries and can return to your original job, if it is open. (An employer does not have to keep a job open when a worker is injured, which seems somewhat as Draconian as Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle,” written well before workers’ compensation insurance but likely the catalyst for it. In the book, employers in Chicago meat processing plants replaced injured or dead workers without blinking an eye, and did nothing to ensure that workers were safe. During the same era, paper mill workers now required to wear safety shoes were shown barefoot in workplace newsletter photographs.)
- Permanent disability. If a worker suffers a permanent total disability, they are eligible for workers’ compensation benefits for life. A partial permanent disability would mean that the worker is unable to perform their previous job, but can still work in some capacity.
- Other benefits. Employees who are injured at work will receive coverage for medical treatment, mileage to and from doctor’s appointments, and vocational retraining if the employee cannot return to their previous job through workers’ comp. If an employee is killed on the job, families will receive both death benefits and funeral costs through workers’ compensation.
- What workers’ compensation doesn’t cover. Workers’ comp fails to cover pain and suffering, emotional distress, and diminished quality of life.
When You Might be Able to File a Lawsuit
In some cases, injured workers might be able to recover some non-economic losses – including pain and suffering – if a third party was at fault for the injuries suffering while working.
Some examples include:
- An injury caused by a contractor who is working with an employee
- An employee attends a work-related function at an outside establishment and slips and falls
- An employee is injured in a car accident while on the job.
- A piece of machinery is determined to be defective, causing the injury to the employee. This puts the manufacturer, supplier or distributor of the product at a liability.
In cases of third-party incidents, injured employees might be able to sue the at-fault party for damages in addition to receiving workers’ compensation benefits.
Workers’ Compensation Deadlines
Each state has a different deadline for filing workers’ compensation claims. While most injuries must be reported quickly, workers often have more time to file, often to gather enough evidence to prevent their claim from being denied.
State deadlines, based on individual state workers’ compensation laws, include:
Alabama: Five days to report an injury, 90 days to report it in writing, two years to file a claim.
Alaska: 30 days to report an injury to your employer in writing, two years to file a claim.
Arizona: Report incident in writing to your employer as soon as possible, one year to file a claim.
Arkansas: Report incident in writing to your employer as soon as possible, two years to file a claim.
California: 30 days to report incident to your employer in writing, one year to file a claim.
Colorado: Four days to report an incident in writing to your employer, two years to file a claim
Connecticut: Report your injury to your employer in writing as soon as possible, one year to file a claim
Delaware: Report your injury in writing to your employer as soon as possible, two years to file a claim.
Florida: 30 days to report your injury in writing, two years to file a claim.
Georgia: 30 days to report injury in writing, one year to file a claim.
Hawaii. Report your injury in writing as soon as possible, five years to file a claim (within two years of noticing symptoms).
Idaho: 60 days to report your injury in writing, no deadline to file a claim.
Illinois: 45 days to report your injury in writing, three years to file a claim.
Indiana: 30 days to report injury in writing, two years to file a claim.
Iowa: 90 days to report an injury in writing, two years to file a claim.
Kansas: 200 days to report an injury to your employer in writing, 200 days to file a claim.
Kentucky: Report injury in writing as soon as possible, two years to file a claim.
Louisiana: Report injury in writing within 30 days, one year to file a claim (or up to two years if injury-related disability is not immediately recognized).
Maine: 30 days to report an injury in writing, two years to file a claim.
Maryland: 10 days to report an injury in writing, two years to file a claim (one year following discovery of injury-related issues).
Massachusetts: Report injury to employer in writing as soon as possible, four years from discovery of injury-related issues to file a claim.
Michigan: 90 days to report an injury in writing, two years to file a claim.
Minnesota: Report injury in writing as soon as possible, six years to file claim (or three years from first reporting of injury).
Mississippi: 30 days to report an injury, two years to file a claim.
Missouri: 30 days to report an injury, two years to file a claim.
Montana: 30 days to report an injury in writing, one year to file a claim (two years if injuries manifest themselves at a later date)
Nebraska: Report an injury in writing as soon as possible, two years to file a claim.
Nevada: Seven days to report an injury in writing, 90 days from the injury or discovery of the related health problems to file a claim.
New Hampshire : Two years to report an injury in writing, three years to file a claim.
New Jersey: 14 days to report an injury to your employer in writing, two years to file a claim.
New Mexico: 15 days to report an injury, one year to contest if workers’ compensation is denied.
New York: 30 days to report an injury in writing, two years to file a claim.
North Carolina: 30 days to report an injury, two years to file a claim
North Dakota: Seven days to report an injury in writing, one year from injury or discovery of injury damages to file a claim.
Ohio: Report injury in writing as soon as possible, one year to file a claim.
Oklahoma: 30 days to report injury, two years from last exposure to occupational illnesses, such as hazardous chemicals, for example, to file claim.
Oregon: Report injury in writing as soon as possible, two years to file claim.
Pennsylvania: 21 days to report injury in writing, three years (or 300 days from last exposure to occupational hazards) to file.
Rhode Island: 30 days to report injury in writing, two years to file claim.
South Carolina: 90 days to report injury in writing, two years from injury or discovery of work-related injury
South Dakota: Three business days to report injury in writing, two years to file claim.
Tennessee: 15 days to report injury, one year to file claim.
Texas: 30 days to report injury, one year from injury or discovery of injury-related problems to file claim.
Utah: 180 days to report injury to employer in writing, one year to file claim.
Vermont: Report injury in writing as soon as possible, six months to file claim.
Virginia: 30 days to report injury in writing, two years to file claim.
Washington: Report injury as soon a possible in writing, one year to file claim (or two years from diagnosis of occupational illness).
West Virginia: Report injury to employer in writing as soon as possible, six months to file claim (or three years from discovery of injury-related issues or last exposure to occupational hazards).
Wisconsin: 30 days to report injury in writing, two years to file claim (six years for traumatic injuries or 1two years for occupational injuries such as exposure to hazardous chemicals).
Wyoming: 72 hours to report injury to employer in writing, one year to file claim (or three years after the last date of exposure to an occupational hazard).
Which Work Comp Industries Are the Riskiest?
Understand that certain jobs carry a higher risk factor than others and require special care to avoid a workers’ compensation claim, which does cover bills but will not pay the same as a previous paycheck. This could be devastating for someone living paycheck to paycheck.
The most dangerous industries that report the most workers comp claims include:
- Construction
- Industrial and manufacturing firms
- Warehouse and shipping jobs
- Mining
- Commercial truck driving
- Logging industry
- Oil and gas companies
- Power and utility companies
- Welding, pipe fitting and other skilled trades due to working environments
- Health care
- Fishing
- Farming, due to machinery issues and potential falls while operating equipment
Common Workers’ Comp Injuries
Injuries can range from minor to severe, but the most common claims include:
- Carpal tunnel syndrome, which can occur in office settings, operating heavy equipment or performing repetitive activities in a factory setting.
- Other types of repetitive stress injuries
- Industrial accidents
- Back and neck injuries, both of which can be debilitating
- Car accidents
- Construction accidents, including falls
- Machinery accidents, especially those without safety features
- Slip and fall injuries
- Electrocution, common for utility workers
- Overexertion injuries due to heavy lifting on a daily basis
- Exposure to toxic substances
Why Can Your Workers’ Comp Claim Be Denied?
While in most cases, workers’ compensation is a no-fault system, meaning that it doesn’t matter who was at fault regarding the incident, there are certain circumstances that can crush a workers’ compensation claim.
They include:
- The refusal to use safety equipment that might have prevented the injury, which would be considered willful misconduct.
- The use of alcohol or illegal drugs at the workplace.
- An accident caused by a fellow employee for something personal.
- An accident is caused as a result of the intent to kill or injure yourself or another employee.
- When the plaintiff neglects to perform a statutory duty (a duty designed to prevent mischief or mayhem).
Why Do I Need an Attorney?
Because these circumstances exist, it is important to have an attorney, as some unscrupulous employers will argue that the injured employee was hurt as a result of one of these issues rather than the employer’s neglect to ensure a safe the workplace. This allows the employer to avoid paying medical expenses and wages during recovery.
They may also deny workers’ compensation in hopes that they can prove that there was no injury at all, dragging things out until the plaintiff feels like giving up in despair.
Workers’ compensation cases can be complex, injuries can be invisible but painful – back pain can be debilitating, but often shows up only in an MRI – and they can be life-changing. An attorney can also help you file a personal injury lawsuit against a third party if the injury was caused by faulty machinery or some other issue not directly related to your employer. (Third-party suits do not impact workers’ compensation.
Our attorneys at WinInjuryNetwork provide a free work injury consultation.