How To Claim For Wage Loss In Workers’ Compensation
If you have recently suffered an injury or illness while at work in Pennsylvania, you may be eligible to receive workers’ compensation wage-loss benefits. With the help of a Pennsylvania workers’ compensation lawyer from Pearson Koutcher Law, this type of benefits can be obtained to provide you and your family with financial support and peace of mind during a difficult time. To claim wage-loss benefits in Pennsylvania, you should ….
- Notify Your Employer Immediately. Whether it’s a minor injury or major injury, you should promptly notify your supervisor or another person in management for your employer that you sustained an injury. For example, if you injure yourself at the warehouse or store where you work, you should tell your supervisor right away; your supervisor or a representative from your employer’s HR department may ask you to complete an incident report. If you are not on your employer’s premises when your injury occurs, you should contact your supervisor by phone call, email, or text. The advantage of written communication is there will be a record of the date and time you reported the incident. The sooner you inform your employer about your work-related injury or illness, the faster your claim will be opened, and hopefully the more likely your claim will be picked up.
- Seek Medical Care. In order to receive wage-loss benefits, you will need medical documentation substantiating that you injured yourself at work, and this injury has disabled you from performing your job. If your employer provides a list of workers’ compensation panel medical providers, as a rule, you are required to see these providers for the first 90 days following your injury. If your employer does not have a panel list, you are free to treat with the doctors of your choice from the time of your injury.
- Inform Your Employer of Doctors’ Restrictions. It is important that you keep your employer apprised of your medical condition and any restrictions that are imposed by your doctors. Suppose that a month after your injury, the occupational doctor for your employer releases you to light-duty work with no lifting of more than 15 pounds. If your employer offers you a light-duty position within the doctor’s restrictions at the same wages as your regular job, and you do not go back and try the job, you can count on the workers’ compensation insurance company not paying you ongoing benefits.
- Hire A Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Lawyer from Pearson Koutcher Law. Things can get dicey if you are released to work, but you don’t think you are capable of working because of your pain level and difficulty functioning. If that happens, you will need an the best workers’ compensation attorneys to protect your rights. Even if you are not released to work and your benefits are not contested initially, the workers’ compensation insurance company for your employer will undoubtedly challenge your entitlement to benefits at some point. Whatever direction your claim goes, you need the best workers’ compensation attorneys by your side to represent you and fight the insurance company head-to-head.
What Are Wage-Loss Benefits?
Wage-loss benefits are weekly checks paid out to injured workers to compensate for the income they have lost when they are disabled. Whether you are totally out of work or working part-time and making less money than you were before your injury, you are entitled to wage-loss benefits – either total disability or partial disability benefits. Injured workers are entitled to wage-loss benefits, in addition to other workers’ compensation benefits, notably medical benefits. Our best workers’ compensation lawyers can help you obtain the workers’ compensation benefits that you are entitled to under the law.
Obtaining workers’ compensation wage-loss benefits can be a difficult and confusing process. Consulting with our best workers’ compensation attorneys can help you understand your rights better. If you, a family member, or friend has been injured and has questions about Pennsylvania workers’ compensation law and is need of representation, Pearson Koutcher Law can help. Please call us today for a free, comprehensive consultation.
