Alabama Workers’ Compensation Benefits
If you are entitled to collect benefits, they will fall into one of three categories:
Medical Benefits: Workers’ comp is designed to cover the expense of the medical care required to treat your injuries. Medical benefits include the cost of surgery, outpatient treatments, physical therapy, medical equipment, prescription medications, transportation to and from any appointments, and other expenses related to medical care for your injury.
Your employer’s workers’ comp insurance company can decide where you receive your medical treatment. Typically, you will be provided with a list of pre-selected medical groups or doctors. If you seek treatment from an unauthorized physician, you run the risk of being unable to collect any reimbursement.
Additionally, workers’ comp does not offer any compensation for experimental treatments or procedures considered unnecessary. Still, you are entitled to ask for an independent medical examination to establish what is and isn’t reasonably necessary and to get a second opinion from a board of physicians.
So, if the insurance carrier is threatening to deny your claim by saying the care or treatment you are receiving is experimental or excessive, call the law offices of Mama Justice right away.
Compensatory Benefits: When your injuries cause you to miss work, workers’ comp regulations entitle you to recoup part of your lost income. This is known as indemnity benefits. The specific dollar amount hinges on multiple factors, but the calculation is rooted in your average weekly wages for the previous year.
In our state, compensatory benefits for these cases are figured by averaging your weekly earnings for the 52 weeks that preceded your injury and multiplying that total by 66.66%. Provided that the total falls between the state’s maximum and minimum amount under the law, you will be able to collect weekly financial compensation.
You may be entitled to several other benefits depending on the severity of your injuries, such as temporary partial disability, temporary total disability, permanent total disability, and permanent partial disability. Each of these categories has its own set of restrictions and rules that could be relevant depending on the specifics of your case.
Death Benefits: If you or a family member was killed in a job site accident, your dependents could be eligible to collect death benefits. The precise amount depends on how many dependents the victim had. For up to 500 weeks, victims’ families are entitled to 50%, with only one dependent, or 66.66%, for two or more dependents, of the decedent’s average weekly wages. If the victim has no dependents, the personal representative of their estate is entitled to $6,500 in death benefits.
Personal Injury and Third-Party Claims for a Workplace Accident
Filing a workers’ comp claim for benefits is your only recourse for being injured in a workplace accident. You will not be able to pursue damages in a civil suit, and you will not be able to collect any economic recovery for your pain and suffering. There are, however, exceptions to this rule. It is possible to file a claim of personal injury if:
- Your employer does not carry workers’ comp insurance in accordance with the law
- Your employer deliberately caused your injuries
- Your injuries were caused by someone other than your immediate employer (a third party)
Third-party claims frequently occur in many industries, most notably construction, when a vendor, business partner, contractor, or other unrelated party causes an accident.
