After a workplace injury, workers’ compensation benefits are necessary as they can provide you with the financial security you need to continue providing for yourself and your family members.
The workers’ compensation benefits cover the recovery period’s costs, like lost wages and medical expenses. Further, it compensates you for temporal or permanent disabilities that you may have experienced during the injury.
Unfortunately, like in any government plan or insurance, several rules and regulations can impact your overall claims and benefits that you are supposed to receive.
Workers’ compensation is a form of insurance for workers who are injured while executing the duties assigned to them by their employers. It is administered in Georgia through SBWC to provide medical, rehabilitative, and income benefits to the injured during the recovery.
For workplace injury victims to receive these benefits, they have to report the injury immediately to their supervisors and seek medical attention as soon as possible and be sure to follow the doctor’s instructions.
Additional 7 Facts About Workers Comp in Georgia that one need to be aware of regarding workers’ compensation claims are.
Is it possible to get compensation benefits even if you are responsible for your injury or accident?
According to SBWC, workers who may have caused their injuries for one reason or the other are still legible for workers’ compensation benefits. Nonetheless, workers whose injuries result from intentional misconducts such as horseplay, fighting, using drugs while working are not legible for compensation.
Can your workers’ compensation stop if your employer decides to fire you?
Georgia practices employment at will. This means that if you do not have a legal contract prohibiting your employer from firing you as they wish, you can be fired for a good reason or even for no reason at all. Although your employer may have the right to terminate your job as they wish, you will be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits owed to you.
Can you get benefits for your suffering and pain?
Workers’ compensation provides for lost wages, medical expenses, and compensation for disabilities. However, it does not compensate employees for suffering and pain caused by their injuries. The compensation for pain and suffering can only be available through a personal injury claim.
Is it Legible to file a lawsuit against your employer for personal injuries?
It is possible to bring a personal injury lawsuit against the people you think were at fault for your accident in workers’ compensation. However, it is impossible to pursue a lawsuit against your employer because workers’ compensation is your remedy.
Is it possible to decide on your doctor for your workers’ comp appointment?
Your employer should provide a list of medical providers for employees to get treatment from in an injury at the workplace. The list should include a medical organization that provides a variety of medical services or at least six qualifying physicians. While you have the freedom to choose any medical services provided on the list provided by your employer, you are not supposed to go for someone outside that list.
Can you receive a lump sum settlement?
No procedure or mechanism in Georgia allows one to seek a lump sum settlement. In other words, the settlement in worker’s compensation is voluntary. Nonetheless, the involved parties may agree to a lump sum settlement. In that case, rights to future benefits become closed.
Is it possible to claim worker’s comp for a pre-existing condition?
Workers with pre-existing conditions can only be legible for workers’ comp if their condition is aggravated during their employment. However, it is crucial to understand that the benefits will only cover the aggravation and not the pre-existing condition.
Are you entitled to benefits even after returning to your job?
Some situations may allow you to continue receiving your benefits even after going back to work. Such situations include.
- If you suffered from a partial or permanent disability occasion by the injury, you got while at the workplace, you are legible for continued benefits.
- After returning to work, you cannot make as much money as you used to make before the injury, then you are entitled to continued benefits.
- In the above scenarios, you may be legible for partial benefits for about 350 weeks.
Is it necessary to hire a lawyer to represent your interests in a workers’ compensation claim?
Although you have the right to represent yourself in seeking justice, hiring a professional workers’ compensation attorney to represent your interests is the wisest move. With trusted attorneys on your side, you have the evidence and the expertise that will ensure that no one takes advantage of you. Moreover, workers’ compattorneys have an incredible experience, and this means that they can handle each case perfectly.