YOUR RIGHTS UNDER WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
What Are Your Rights Under the Missouri Workers’ Compensation Law?
Under the Missouri Workers’ Compensation Law, the employee who has been injured on the job has the right to the following benefits: (1) payment for reasonable and necessary medical treatment; (2) payment for salary lost as a result of the injury; (3) payment in the form of a lump sum at the end of the case for permanent disability or permanency of the injury; and in some cases, (4) additional payment for permanent disfigurement.
1. Medical Care: Who Chooses the Doctor?
The Missouri Workers’ Compensation Law calls for the employer to choose the doctor. This makes sense if you consider that the employer is obligated to pay the doctor bills. However, if the employer fails or refuses to choose a doctor, then the employee has the right to choose a doctor at the employer’s cost.
2. How Much Do I Get Paid While I Am Off Work?
The Missouri Workers’ Compensation Law calls for the payment to the employee of 2/3 of his or her average weekly wage (based on an average of the 13 weeks immediately preceding the accident). These payments are made in conformity with strict guidelines. However, a waiting period applies before you can receive any payments. In order to be able to receive lost wages, the employee must be off work at least 3 consecutive days. If the employee does not work then for 14 consecutive days, then the employee receives payment for the first 3 days. Notwithstanding, there are minimum and maximum amounts which change occasionally.
3. What is Permanent Disability?
At some point after the accident, the doctor will state that the employee has been complete cured (although not necessarily completed recuperated). The doctor will normally state that the employee will no longer benefit from additional medical treatment and that the employee will simply have to live with the residual effects of the injury. This is called “maximum medical improvement”. The residual effects of the injury are the elements which determine permanent disability. In other words, if the injury causes continuous problems, the employee has the right to receive compensation. Many times different doctors have different opinions regarding the nature and extent of permanent disability. It is not surprising that the company doctors are generally of the opinion that the employee has a low level of permanent disability. Another problem is that surgeons are generally more conservative in estimating disability (in part because the surgeon is being asked to evaluate his own work and the surgeons, like the rest of us, are normally quite proud of their work).
Permanent Partial Disability refers to a permanent disability which does not keep the employee from returning to work in some capacity. In the event a permanent partial disability is determined, the employee may receive an amount of money in lump sum based on the percentage of the disability.
Permanent Total Disability refers to a person who will never be able to return to work due to the injury suffered. In the event a determination of permanent total disability is made, the employee may receive a lump sum payment or monthly payments.
Can I Be Fired for Claiming My Rights?
It is illegal for an employer to fire an employee for filing a report of injury or for filing a workers’ compensation claim. This makes sense because if the employer were able to fire an employee simply for claiming his rights under workers’ compensation, no one would ever claim their rights under workers’ compensation and the goal of the Workers’ Compensation Law of protecting employees would never be achieved. It is likewise illegal to refuse to hire someone simply because that person had a workers’ compensation claim in the past.
What to Do if You Are Injured on the Job:
(1) Immediately report the injury to your supervisor or employer. They should fill out a report about the injury and how, where and when it happened. They have to file the required documents with the Division of Workers’ Compensation and their insurance company.
(2) Seek Medical Attention at Once. Your employer or supervisor should tell you which hospital to go to or which doctor to see, and should help you to get an appointment, if necessary.
(3) Do not miss any of your medical appointments.
(4) Keep your employer up to date with respect to your medical condition and as to when you might be able to return to work. Generally the doctor will provide you a note to turn in to your employer. Make copies of these notes for yourself to keep, too.
Should I Hire an Attorney?
Not everyone needs to hire an attorney. However, the employer and the insurance company have many attorneys available to them who are ready, willing and able to work against you. Never assume that the employer or the insurance company cares about your condition or if you receive fair compensation. Your pain does not hurt them. Consider this analogy: What would happen if you entered a motorcycle building competition. Your competitors build motorcycles every day for a living. Could you win the contest? Maybe, but wouldn’t your chances of winning be greater if you hired someone who makes their living building motorcycles? Insurance companies and their attorneys build motorcycles every day. Perhaps this Firm’s help would assist you in competing with the insurance company and their attorneys to earn the benefits to which you are rightly entitled. Please feel free to call, as the initial consultation is absolutely free of charge.