Getting injured on the job can be a life-changing experience. An employee who gets hurt at work can go from living comfortably one day, to being in complete financial ruins the next. Fortunately, you can alleviate the financial burden by filing a worker's compensation claim should you become injured while working at your job. These are the payments you can request in a worker's compensation case.

Payment Of Medical Expenses

Any medical expenses incurred due to the injury that happened at your job should be paid by the employer. This includes the cost of emergency room visits, doctor's appointments, medications, physical therapy, surgeries, and hospital stays. If you will have ongoing medical expenses to treat the specific injury that occurred on the job, these should also be paid for by worker's compensation. In most cases, your medical bills will be sent directly to the employer once you have filed a claim. However, if you must pay anything upfront before receiving medical treatment, such as copays, you can send the receipts from these payments to your employer and be reimbursed those amounts through worker's compensation.

Time Lost At Work

Worker's compensation also covers the cost of your wages that you can no longer earn due to being off work because of the injury. The amount may be slightly more or slightly less than what you are getting paid at the time you become injured. This amount is normally determined by calculating what your average income for the year would normally be. Therefore, if you make more or less during a certain part of the year, this may create a slight change in the amount of income you will be paid through worker's compensation.

Vocational Rehabilitation

If your medical care provider has determined that you must attend a vocational rehab program before going back to work, this too must be paid for by worker's compensation. For instance, if you cannot complete your normal work duties without first attending a vocational rehab program, worker's compensation must pay the total cost for the program. Also, if you will never be able to perform your normal work duties, but vocational rehabilitation can help you learn a new skill that will help you become employed elsewhere, this must be paid for by worker's compensation.

Worker's compensation may or may not pay the employee for pain and suffering due to the injury. In most cases, the employee must prove the injury was caused by the employer's negligence before pain and suffering compensation can be awarded. Most well-known employers keep a worker's compensation insurance plan active at all times so they are already prepared should an on the job injury occur.

Contact a worker's compensation attorney for more information.

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