Have you or a loved one been injured at work? Read these Workers Compensation Tips and contact Attorney, Jacob Maples today.
Entitled to Wage Replacement
There are a number of lost wage benefits available. Temporary disability is while you are out of work under doctor’s restrictions. Temporary partial disability is when you can go back to work part-time but you earn less money than you were making before. You may be entitled to the difference in the pre- and post-injury wages. Once your injury has healed, you are entitled to compensation for either a partial disability pursuant to the schedules or the formulas that we use to determine those benefits. If you are not able to go back to work at all, you may be entitled to permanent total disability benefits, which is permanent wage loss benefits.
Reopening a Workers’ Comp Case
The process of reopening a previously settled workers’ compensation claim is quite complex. You will need an attorney to determine if you have the grounds to do so. The workers’ compensation statute that’s applicable is very narrow. We have been able to work with clients who settled their claim without an attorney. Working with an attorney prevents you from signing a document that might keep you from reopening a claim if your condition worsens in the future.
Workers’ Compensation Benefits Cap
There is a cap on both the temporary total disability benefits, as well as on the permanent total disability benefits. That number changes every year. As of 2022, it is around $900 a week. There’s a cap both on the amount for a total disability claim, as well as how long you can receive those benefits. Benefits are terminated upon death or the injured worker returning to work. For a worker who’s been determined to be totally disabled from their job, they are capped on the amount and duration, which is only during the period of disability. For partial disability claims, which involve serious injuries, but not injuries that have totally disabled the employee, there is a cap of 300 weeks at $220 a week. That cap was put in place over 30 years ago. Our legislature has not increased that amount since. That $220 cap does apply to a lot of the claims that we handle. It’s important to try to maximize the value of the claim in other ways.
Have you or a loved one been injured at work? Read these Workers Compensation Tips and contact our experienced Alabama Workers’ Compensation Attorney, Jacob Maples today for a confidential consultation and legal case evaluation.
