When an employee is injured during the course of his or her job, the individual is generally eligible for workers’ compensation. If this sounds like something you’re dealing with, you might be concerned about what expenses it covers. The following are four work-related issues workers’ comp covers.
Medical Expenses
Keep good records of your medical expenses after you receive any type of medical care. Workers’ compensation covers emergency room stays, surgeries, physical therapy, prescription medication and a wide variety of other types of healthcare. If you were previously injured in a separate incident, you can’t claim the medical expenses for those previous injuries. Only the new injuries or illnesses incurred during your job are eligible for workers’ comp.
Lost Wages
Workers’ compensation pays for the time you lost at work while you were recovering from your injuries. As soon as you are able to get back to work, your regular wages will pick back up again and you won’t receive workers’ comp anymore. If you are only able to work a partial day because of your injuries, you may be compensated for the other half. Time missed for medical appointments, however, are generally not covered, so you may want to schedule those for after working hours or during a lunch break.
If you normally have vacation days or holiday pay, you could possibly be compensated for those. This would only apply if your vacation days or holidays had to fall within the timeframe that you were out of work due to your injuries. If you are able to take a holiday at any time during the year, you may not be eligible for compensation.
Extended Healthcare
You may have extended healthcare needs that will need to be compensated for. This could include physical therapy for the next few years, life-long prescription medication, a future surgery and other health-related needs. Workers’ comp can provide help for these extended treatments.
Funeral Expenses
If the individual who was injured in a workplace accident was your loved one, and he or she died as a result of the injuries, you could receive funeral expense compensation through workers’ comp. This helps to cover funeral costs, as well as providing death benefits to the beneficiaries of the deceased.
Contacting a Lawyer for More Information
If you or a loved one was recently injured in a workplace accident, you are entitled to compensation. Contact an on the job injury attorneys for more information on how to get started.