Following a workplace accident, employees may be eligible to recover compensation benefits. Workers’ compensation is designed to provide employees with weekly benefits when they are written out of work by their doctor following an accident. Workers’ compensation is based on how much an individual makes according to their previous 52 weeks of pay. If an employee has two jobs and gets hurt on one, they have to take into consideration their average weekly wage based on income from both jobs.
An experienced workers’ compensation lawyer could evaluate your claim and help you seek the compensation you need. It is best to speak to a knowledgeable attorney to learn about Beaufort workers’ compensation benefits.
What Types Of Benefits Are Covered By Workers’ Compensation?
In Beaufort, workers who are injured on the job are entitled to three basic benefits, including medical treatment that tends to lessen their disability, and weekly benefits based on two-thirds of their average weekly wage as calculated according to the 52 weeks prior to the injury. It is two-thirds because workers’ compensation benefits are not taxable income, so it is assumed that most employees have about a third of their pay taken out of their paycheck for federal or state-level taxes.
Who is Entitled to Permanent Disability Benefits?
Additionally, if an employee is released with any type of permanent impairment, they are entitled to either permanent partial disability or permanent total disability. For example, if someone is unable to return to same type of employment because their injuries are so bad, such as a spinal cord injury or severe head injury, they would be entitled to temporary total disability.
For a free legal consultation with a workers' compensation benefits lawyer serving Beaufort, call 1-803-366-0333
Under What Conditions Will a Person Not Be Entitled To Workers’ Compensation Benefits?
A person would not be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits under certain conditions, including if the injury was the result of horseplay that they caused, or if the injury did not arise out of or in the course of their employment. Just because someone has a heart attack or a stroke work does not make that a workers’ compensation claim. That would be an underlying medical condition and not an injury by accident.
Therefore, that person would not be entitled to benefits. If they were going to and from work or if they were clocked out on their lunch break and have no duties while clocked out, it would not be considered workers’ compensation or if they were injured by doing something that is not part of their normal job duties.
Beaufort Workers' Compensation Benefits Lawyer Near Me 1-803-366-0333
Calculating Future Needs
Workers’ compensation takes into consideration that the injury itself may result in the individual not earning wages they would have earned had they not been hurt.
The purpose of workers’ compensation is to protect the employer and the employee, and if someone suffers some type of permanent condition, it is presumed it will prevent them from being entitled to minimum wages owed in the future. And, they may not be able to engage in work activity for the same length of time they would had they not gotten hurt. That is what permanent partial disability or permanent total disability is designed to provide.
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Retain The Services Of a Wrongful Death Attorney
The role of a lawyer in a workers’ compensation case is to make sure injured employees get proper medical treatment, and that they receive the proper amount of weekly benefits in a timely manner. If the doctor has released them and they have returned to work with no more medical treatment needed, the lawyer would get their case resolved so they are able to receive permanent partial disability or permanent total disability.
If the injured worker still has issues, but the doctor does not recommend treatment, the lawyer can help the worker request a second opinion, something that has been critical in many cases. Call today to learn about how the legal team at Schiller & Hamilton could help employees seek Beaufort workers’ compensation benefits.
Call or text 1-803-366-0333 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form