Workers’ Compensation Wage Replacement Categories
Most families live hand to mouth, because they have less than $1,000 in savings. So, a few months without a paycheck, or even a few weeks without a paycheck, is financially devastating. The financial stress aggravates a physical injury, making that injury more difficult, and more expensive, to treat. As a result, job injury victims are caught in a downward spiral that seems endless.
A Tampa workers’ compensation lawyer obtains the lost wage benefits jb injury victims need and deserve. They need these benefits because, as outlined above, they frequently couldn’t survive without them. They deserve these benefits because, in most cases, the accident or illness wasn’t their fault. Even if it was, full workers’ compensation benefits are usually available, as long as the illness or injury was work related.
Temporary Total Disability
Car crashes and falls, the two most common work-related trauma injuries, normally cause TTDs. These victims cannot work while they recover. So, in most cases, workers’ compensation pays two-thirds of the victim’s average weekly wage (AWW) for the duration of that temporary disability.
TTD law recently changed significantly in Florida. TTD benefits now last up to five years. The longer time period allows victims to fully recover from their injuries.
The recovery timeline varies significantly in different cases. A broken leg in a relatively minor fall might heal relatively quickly. If the victim’s leg was crushed in a car wreck, the surgically-reconstructed bones will take much longer to heal. If the victim had a pre-existing condition, like a prior broken leg, the recovery process could take even longer.
A Tampa workers’ compensation lawyer advocates for victims in these situations, so they get the treatment they need, whether or not that treatment is in line with an insurance company’s boilerplate tables.
Permanent Partial Disability
Many TTD victims hit MMI (maximum medical improvement) before their injuries or illnesses completely heal. For example, the aforementioned broken legal victim might permanently lose some range of motion in a hip, knee, or other joint.
Available lost wage compensation replaces future income/ If chronic leg pain forces a victim to work part time, AWW replacement makes life much easier.
The legal change mentioned above is huge in this area. Previously, workers’ comp benefits only lasted a few months. Therefore, many victims didn’t fully recover, but since they hadn’t reached MMI, they weren’t eligible for lost wage replacement benefits. Now, that problem is largely a thing of the past,
Frequently, a Tampa workers’ compensation lawyer partners with an accountant or other outside professional to determine a fair amount of future lost income in these situations.
Temporary Partial Disability/Permanent Total Disability
We’ll lump these last two categories together because they only apply in some cases. The wage replacement principles are the same, but the application is different.
TPD victims can usually work part-time or work a light-duty assignment as they recover from a TTD injury or illness. If a victim refuses to accept a part-time or light-duty assignment, the company could terminate workers’ compensation benefits.
PTD victims cannot work at all. A “disability” is not just a medical term. Some injuries are disabling in some cases, mostly depending on the victim’s educational and vocational background. Blind college teachers can normally keep working, but blind people cannot drive trucks.
Work With a Hard-Hitting Hillsborough County Lawyer
Injury victims are entitled to important financial benefits. For a confidential consultation with an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer in Tampa, contact Kobal Law. We routinely handle matters throughout the Sunshine State.
Source:
nasdaq.com/articles/most-americans-have-$1000-or-less-in-savings-how-to-increase-that-amount
