Founding Attorney
Workers’ compensation is an insurance program that is state-mandated and provides benefits to covered employees who suffer a job-related injury or illness. Also informally known as workman’s comp, workers compensation can provide critical financial support to workers injured or otherwise suffering from a job-related illness. What, however, do workers’ compensation benefits actually cover? In the event that you are out of work due to a work-related injury or illness, it will be very important for you to understand the answer to this question to know just what you can expect in the way of benefits coverage.
What Do Workers Compensation Benefits Cover?
Should you suffer an injury or illness related to your employment, workers’ compensation can help cover your medical expenses that are related to the injury or illness. This can include things like emergency room visits and surgeries as well as other procedures and prescription medication. Furthermore, workers’ compensation can help cover your lost wages. The benefits can go towards replacing some of the income you have lost due to needing to take time off to recover from your work-related injury or illness.
Workers’ compensation can also help cover the costs associated with ongoing care for your injury or illness. Some injuries or illnesses cannot simply be solved with one round of treatment. Some require ongoing treatment and follow-up care such as physical therapy. Workers’ compensation benefits can help cover the costs associated with all of this. Should a worker’s injury or illness prove fatal, workers’ compensation can help cover burial expenses as well as provide death benefits to the workers’ beneficiaries.
As you have probably noticed, workers’ compensation is specifically applicable to only injuries and illnesses that occur due to work, not those that occur outside of work. Work-related illnesses can sometimes be due to things like working conditions that expose an employee to harmful chemicals that cause illness. Repetitive injuries caused by job-related duties are also covered by workers’ compensation. Repetitive motion injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, are, therefore, covered even if the employee developed it after months or even years on the job.
All New York businesses are required to have workers’ compensation coverage for all employees. This includes part-time employees as well as family members employed by the company. Receiving workers’ compensation benefits is a kind of trade-off. The worker gets paid benefits in exchange for waiving the right to sue the employer for a work-related injury or illness. The benefits, therefore, provide the funds to help pay for medical costs and lost wages. Note, however, that even if receiving workers’ compensation benefits means that you have waived the right to sue your employer, you may still be able to sue a third party for the role that they have played in causing your work-related injury or illness.
Personal Injury Attorney
For more information on workers’ compensation benefits and the option to bring a third-party lawsuit for your job-related injury or illness, talk to Attorney Michael LoGiudice about your options. Contact us today.