When you get hurt or sick on the job and cannot work because of the harm you have sustained, you may be eligible for various benefits under your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance policy. However, the specific benefits you have access to and their financial value can change significantly from case to case and even from worker to worker.
Understanding what kinds of workers’ compensation benefits in Victorville you may be eligible to receive through a successful claim can be vital to obtaining the compensation you need. Here is a brief overview of what a typical workers’ comp plan may offer qualifying workers as benefits, all of which a seasoned workers’ compensation attorney from Silberman & Lam could provide crucial assistance with effectively pursuing.
Employees who get injured or become ill due to work-related conditions in Victorville can seek reimbursement through a workers’ comp claim for bills and expenses related to reasonably necessary medical care for their injury, including travel expenses from doctors’ appointments. Exactly what qualifies as reasonably necessary can be a somewhat subjective matter, but in general, injured workers should be able to receive whatever benefits they need to get back to their pre-accident condition or as close to it as possible, which is referred to as maximum medical improvement (MMI).
A Victorville employee rendered unable to work for more than three days by a work-related injury or illness can seek temporary disability benefits through workers’ comp to make up for the wages or salary they will miss while they are out of work. Generally, these benefits equal two-thirds of the injured worker’s average pre-tax weekly wage before they got hurt or sick, but payments cannot be less than $242.86 per week or more than $1619.15 per week as of 2024.
If an injured or sick employee reaches MMI as determined by their doctors and still has some residuals that are permanent, they may be eligible for permanent disability benefits. The financial value of these benefits may change somewhat depending on the person’s disability rating, which is measured on a scale of zero to 100 and indicates the degree to which they can still perform gainful work despite their disability.
If a work-related injury or illness directly causes an employee’s premature death, their surviving spouse and dependents may be eligible to receive death benefits through their deceased family member’s workers’ comp coverage in Victorville. For injuries occurring on or after January 1, 2013, eligible family members can receive up to $10,000 of reimbursement for burial expenses and weekly benefits equal to the temporary disability benefit rate the deceased person would have received had they survived their injuries, up to a prescribed maximum, which changes somewhat depending on the number of dependents the decedent had.
This is not an exhaustive list of all the benefits a particular workers’ comp policy may provide, and various factors may impact the actual financial value of benefits a particular person receives. One consistent thing across virtually all workers’ comp claims is the importance of having help from knowledgeable legal counsel through the claims process.
A qualified lawyer from our firm could help you overcome opposition from insurance providers and your employer to ensure you get the workers’ compensation benefits in Victorville you are entitled to. Call the legal team at Silberman & Lam today for a consultation.
