Accidents that take place at work can frighten many individuals. Unfortunately, such incidents often result in workers suffering injuries, and injured workers may not have the ability to immediately return to work. As a result, they could face financial hardships. If a serious injury affected you after involvement in a work-related accident, you may qualify for workers’ compensation.
Worker’s comp offers a variety of benefits. The types of benefits you could potentially receive depend on your specific injuries and other factors pertaining to your case.
Medical benefits
Serious injuries obviously require medical attention. In many cases, the injuries could result in the need for hospitalization, surgery or other medical procedures. These procedures often come with considerable costs, and as a result, you may struggle with the financial ramifications. If you qualify for workers’ comp, these benefits should cover the costs of any necessary medical treatment resulting from your work-related injuries. It many cases, your employer may choose your medical providers, but your employer could give you the option to choose your own.
Temporary disability benefits
If your injuries resulted in the inability to work for a temporary period of time, workers’ comp could award you benefits for the missed time. Once you return to work, your benefits come to an end. However, if you return to work on light duty before your full recovery and receive less wages than before your injury, compensation benefits may provide temporary partial benefits to supplement a portion of the gap between your current wage and previous wage.
Permanent disability benefits
Unfortunately, permanent work-related injuries could result in your total inability to ever return to work. In such a case, you could gain permanent disability benefits. This compensation typically comes at two-thirds of your original wages with additional factors considered. Even though you suffered a permanent injury, you could potentially have the ability to return to work, just in a limited capacity. If this occurs, you may receive permanent partial disability benefits.
Survivors’ benefits
Workplace accidents could also cause fatal injuries. When a fatality occurs, the surviving family of the victim could receive workers’ compensation benefits on behalf of the decedent. These benefits carry on for certain periods of time depending on the specific circumstances of the situation and family dynamic.
In order to gain workers’ compensation after suffering a work injury, you need to take several steps in efforts to prove your injury and qualification for benefits. Because such endeavors can face complications, you may wish to speak to an experienced Nebraska attorney to obtain more information and gain assistance should issues arise.