If you are an injured worker and cannot get employment or compete on the open labor market after a work injury, you may be entitled to Permanent Total Disability payments.  If the injury with your last employer caused the Permanent Total Disability, then that employer would be responsible for payment of the Permanent Total Disability payments.  If the last work injury combined with pre-existing injuries caused the permanent disability, then the Second Injury Fund is responsible for such payments.  

A permanently and totally disabled worker is entitled to receive weekly payments for the permanent disability at the weekly temporary total disability rate.  Proving Permanent Total Disability is quite difficult because the employee must establish that he or she is completely unable to perform any form of employment on the open labor market.  Lawyers are usually needed to prove that an employee cannot continue in the labor market.  Our office commonly refers employees for evaluations with doctors and other experts to determine fully whether an the injured worker has reached the level of disability that entitles them to permanent total disability payments.  An employee who is totally disabled may also receive Social Security benefits for disability.

No Recovery, No Fee!

The Hein Law Firm accepts injury cases on a contingency basis. This means you only pay attorney's fees if we get you compensation. For a free consultation with a Permanent Total Disability Lawyer, call us at (314) 645-7900, or contact us online.

A: It is illegal for your employer to fire you solely because you filed a workers’ comp claim. This does not mean your employer cannot fire you due to some other reason after you have been injured. However, if you have been fired and you believe it is because of your work injury, please contact our office.

The treating or “company” doctor in a Workers’ Compensation case may make a determination that an injured worker is able to go back to work, but only on a limited or light duty basis for some period of time.  A good example is someone with a back injury who the doctor says can work, but can only lift a certain number of pounds (like 10 pounds or 15 pounds, for example).

The employee then needs to inform the employer of the doctor's recommended medical restriction.  The law says the employer must try to seek an accomodation of the injured worker's medical needs.  This is to say that if there is some type of work available at the place of employment, the physical requirements of which would comply with the doctor's orders, then the worker can go back to work at that accomodated job position (in the above example, a job which does not require lifiting more than 10 or 15 pounds).  This accomodated job is called "light duty work."

If there is light duty work available at your job, your employer can let you work on a limited basis only so long as there is an accommodation of the specific medical restrictions that the company doctor sets out.  The injured worker may still be able to get some amount of benefits while on light duty to make up the difference in lost wages.  That is called Temporary Partial Disability (TPD), but is quite rare.

If your job does not have any light duty work available for you, you will likely be able to continue to receive Temporary Total Disability (TTD) payments for the time lost from work while under active treatment for the injury.  This means, if your job doesn’t have any light duty available, you stay home until the doctor says you can go back to work without medical restrictions.  In the meantime, you continue to receive your weekly workers’ compensation payments to help you maintain your family while you cannot work.

No Recovery, No Fee!

The Hein Law Firm accepts injury cases on a contingency basis. This means you only pay attorney's fees if we get you compensation. For a free consultation with a lawyer, call us at (314) 645-7900, or contact us online.

A: Generally, under the Missouri Workers’ Compensation Law, an employee must file a Claim for Compensation with the Division of Workers’ Compensation, within two years from the date of injury or last payment made on account of the injury by the employer or its workers’ compensation insurance carrier. In some situations, this period may be extended to three years if the employer/insurer does not timely file the First Report of Injury.

Important Tip: If you are unsure about whether you have missed the deadline to file, don’t assume you are too late, contact our office.

The Second Injury Fund (SIF) is unique in all the United States and was designed for the State of Missouri to provide various funds to help injured workers under certain circumstances.  The Second Injury Fund is currently undergoing numerous problems.  In fact, the attorney general announced in late 2009 that the Second Injury Fund was essentially out of Funds and would no longer make voluntary payments.   This means that if you are entitled to Second Injury Funds, you will have to take your case all the way to trial in order to have a workers’ compensation judge order the Second Injury Fund to pay you.  Also, there is currently (as of Spring 2011) a bill being processed in the Missouri Legislature to do away entirely with the Second Injury Fund.

The Second Injury Fund is supposed to give injured workers payments for increased disability resulting from the combination of a work-related injury and a pre-existing disability, whether work-related or not.  These payments include Permanent Partial Disability payments for injuries and payment for permanent total disability if the combination of a work-related injury and pre-existing injuries result in an injured worker being unable to further compete on the open labor market.

The Second Injury Fund is also theoretically supposed to provide certain benefits when an employee is killed in the line of duty by paying burial and death benefits.  The Second Injury Fund provides limited benefits to employees for rehabilitation from a work injury, benefits from secondary job loss and is supposed to provide limited medical payments when your employer is supposed to have Workers’ Compensation insurance, but doesn’t.

No Recovery, No Fee!

The Hein Law Firm accepts injury cases on a contingency basis. This means you only pay attorney's fees if we get you compensation. For a free consultation with a lawyer, call us at (314) 645-7900, or contact us online.

A: Your settlement should come some time after you have finished medical treatment and have been released to return to work by the doctor.

If you have questions about whether you are entitled to a settlement, please contact our office.

What Rights Does a Worker Hurt at Work Have Under the Missouri Workers’ Compensation Law?
Under the Missouri Workers’ Compensation Law, the worker who has been injured on the job has the right to receive the following 4 benefits:

1. Payment for Reasonable and Necessary Medical Treatment
(i.e., you get your Medical Bills Paid Because of a Work Injury)
As an injured worker, you are entitled to receive medical treatment paid for by your employer or the employer’s insurance company for your injuries.  To the extent reasonably required, your employer must provide medical services but does have the ability to determine who provides such medical treatment.  This makes sense to a certain degree: if your employer is paying the bill, your employer thus also has the ability to determine the appropriate medical provider, so long as it is reasonable.

2. Payment for Salary Lost as a Result of the Injury
(i.e., Lost Wages Because of a Work Injury)
For time off of work for an injury, you as an injured employee are able to receive Temporary Total Disability (TTD) payments for such time that you are not able to work.  The weekly amount payable is typically based on your average weekly wage for the 13 weeks leading up to the day you were hurt.  This amount is typically 2/3 of the your average weekly wage over those 13 weeks leading up to the injury, up to the statutory weekly limit. These disability payments for lost wages are not taxable.  The idea is that you get more or less what you would have gotten after taxes.  

3. Payment in the Form of  a Lump Sum at the End of a case for Permanent Disability or Permanency of the Injury
(i.e., Permanent Partial and Permanent Total Disability Benefits
There are a number of benefits to which you are entitled as an injured worker under to Missouri Workers’ Compensation law.  The benefit that your lawyer is most usually employed to obtain is called permanent partial disability payments (PPD).  PPD benefits are obtained after the doctor provided by the employer completes treatment of the injured worker.  Following most work-related injuries, the injured worker is rated as having a particular level of permanent disability from a particular injury.  Many injured workers are not aware after completing medical treatment that they are entitled to an additional payment for an amount of disability related to an injury.  A cut or minor back injury will still likely produce some amount of disability payment that the employee is entitled to receive.  The amount of PPD payment that you as an injured worker are entitled to receive is best valued and determined by knowledgeable legal counsel who has practiced in Workers’ Compensation law for many years and has knowledge as to the value of such claims.  Often, our Firm sends clients to doctors we know for independent medical evaluations (IME) to determine the level of disability that is fair and appropriate for a work-related injury.  Our firm has been recognized for its ability to maximize the amount of payment that an employee receives for a work injury.    
Permanent Total Disability benefits are available to employee who because of a work injury are determined to be unable to work any longer on the open labor market.  Weekly benefits are available for the remainder of the life of an employee who is no longer able to work because of such an injury. Permanent Total Disability benefits may be obtain from you last employer or from the Second Injury Fund if it is determined that your last work injury combined with previous injuries resulted in the condition of permanent disability.  

4. Additional Payment for Permanent Disfigurement.
Thankfully, most injuries do not result in scarring.  However, if you end up with any type of scar, burn, stitches, skin discoloration or other disfigurement on your head, face, neck, arms and hands, you will be entitled to an additional lump sum payment for that disfigurement and scarring, up to the limit set by the Law.

No Recovery, No Fee
The Hein Law Firm accepts injury cases on a contingency basis. This means you only pay attorney's fees if we get you compensation. For a free consultation with a lawyer, call us at (314) 645-7900, or contact us online.

A: Yes, under most circumstances, you are entitled to a settlement (money) for your work injury.

Missouri law states that if you have sustained a permanent injury to your body, you are entitled to a settlement (money) from the insurance company. This is a lump sum of money that is paid to you after your injury has been treated and after you have recovered to the fullest medical extent possible. The permanent partial disability benefit, often called PPD, is paid to compensate you for the permanent residual effect of your injury.