Workers’ Compensation: What You Need to Know
Becoming injured is never favorable, but it can be even worse when your injuries are sustained at work and impact your ability to effectively do your job. Luckily, workers’ compensation benefits are granted to the majority of California employees.
According to the State of California Department of Industrial Relations, workers’ compensation benefits are “designed to provide you with the medical treatment you need to recover from your work-related injury or illness, partially replace the wages you lose while you are recovering, and help you return to work.”
Read on to learn more about workers’ compensation benefits in California.
What to Do if You Become Injured at Work
If you are injured on the job, you should take the following steps so you’re able to receive workers’ compensation benefits to help pay for your injuries:
Let your employer know about your injury or illness. It’s very important for the approval of your workers’ compensation benefits to tell your employer about your ailment right away. If your ailment developed over time, tell your employer as soon as you find out or suspect it to be the result of your work. If your condition is not reported to your employer within 30 days, it is possible for you to lose your right to obtain workers’ compensation benefits altogether.
Attain immediate medical treatment if necessary. Call 9-1-1 if it’s an emergency or visit an emergency room immediately. Be sure to let the medical staff know that your ailment is work-related. If you’re able to do so without exacerbating your condition, contact your employer for more information on how to proceed. If emergency medical treatment is not necessary, it’s a good idea to obtain first aid and visit a doctor if needed.
Once your claim is filed, your employer is obligated to provide medical care for you. You are entitled to medical care provided to cure or treat ailments you developed while working.
The Benefits You Are Entitled To
The workers’ compensation benefits you are entitled to are as follows:
Medical treatment - Your employer is required to pay for your medical care that relates to your on-the-job injury. Including physician visits, treatment services, tests, drugs, equipment, and travel costs that are reasonably needed for the treatment of your injury.
Temporary disability benefits - If you lose wages because you are unable to perform your regular working duties as a result of recovering from your injury, these benefits will be paid to you.
Permanent disability benefits - If your injury prompts a lifelong loss of physical or mental performance that is measurable by a doctor, you will receive these benefits.
Supplemental job displacement benefit - If you qualify for permanent disability benefits, your employer does not offer you work, and you don’t go back to work for your employer, you will receive a voucher designed to assist with payments relating to retraining or skills enhancement.
Death benefits - If you die as a result of your working injury or illness, your spouse, children, or other dependents will receive these benefits.
More Details
As long as you give your employer the name and address of your primary care physician in writing before you are injured, you are allowed to see your personal doctor or medical group immediately after sustaining your injuries. Providing your employer with your doctor’s information prior to becoming injured is called “predesignating.”
We Can Help
If you’ve been injured at work and would like to obtain workers’ compensation benefits, our skilled attorneys at Brand Peters PC can help. Our team has helped many other people just like you obtain the benefits they deserve. Don’t hesitate to contact our office with your case right away. After all, it’s your health on the line.
Call the San Francisco Bay Area lawyers at Brand Peters PC today to speak with an accomplished attorney about your case.