Georgia Workers’ Compensation Benefits: What You Get
With workers’ compensation, it doesn’t matter whether you accidently injured yourself or if you were hurt by the actions of coworkers or your employer. The point is that you were hurt at work, period, and you should never be left to deal with that alone.
Every employer in Georgia with at least three employees is required to carry workers’ comp insurance to cover injuries in the course of business.The following are the major kinds of support you can get from workers’ compensation in Georgia:
- Lost Wages. You receive weekly pay for income you’re missing when you can’t work because of your injury. This could be temporary while you recover or permanent for more serious injuries. It pays 66 percent of your regular pay, up to a limit set by the state.
- Wage Reduction Benefits. If you can work but your injury leaves you unable to earn what you did before, workers’ compensation benefits can supplement your pay.
- Medical Benefits. The medical treatment you need because of your job injury should be covered by workers’ comp.
- Vocational Rehabilitation. If you can’t return to the same kind of job you did before, Georgia workers’ comp benefits help with retraining and placement in a new job.
- Survivors’ Benefits. When someone dies from their work injury, whether the accident itself is fatal or it leads to death later, surviving family members can receive financial assistance from workers’ comp in Georgia.
Employers and workers’ comp insurance companies may try to deny your benefits, award you lower benefits than you deserve, or end your benefits too soon.
The Silver & Archibald workers’ comp law firm helps workers in Georgia get the maximum workers’ comp benefits available.
Start with a free conversation about your case and how our workers’ compensation lawyers can help you.
What To Do First When You’re Hurt at Work?
The main task of your workers’ comp claim is proving that your injury happened at work or resulted from work.
When an injury happens, always take care of your immediate well-being first, then take the right steps to build your claim for benefits.
Do the following to protect your health and access to financial help after you’re hurt at work:
- Get any emergency medical treatment you need. Don’t worry about benefits applications when you need help now. If it’s an emergency, workers’ comp should cover emergency services regardless of where you go for care.
- Report the injury to your employer as soon as possible. Reporting your injury starts your workers’ comp claim. You need to report it within 30 days. It’s best to put it in writing and get a written copy of the report your employer files in response.
- Get ongoing medical treatment. After you received any necessary emergency treatment, get follow-up care and make sure the doctor you see knows you had a work injury and can work with workers’ comp.
- Talk to a workers’ comp law firm. Although your employer is supposed to make an official report of your injury, and their workers’ comp insurance company is supposed to get your benefits started quickly, you cannot always trust they’ll do their parts. Your workers’ comp attorney puts your needs first and keeps your claim on track.
You also need to make sure your claim is registered with the Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation.
And if you get denied or shortchanged on benefits, you need to pursue a legal process of appeal. This can include attending a hearing with a workers’ comp administrative law judge.
When you’re up against this process, get our experienced workers’ comp attorneys to help you move forward to better times.
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