Will Your Workers’ Compensation Benefits Be Taxed?… Receiving compensation for a workplace injury or a work-related occupational disease is a bad deal for the worker. In North Carolina, the injured worker gets only a portion of their average weekly wage for the weeks they miss from work. The amount injured workers receive is only 2/3 of their average gross weekly pay amount. This often places a strain on the injured worker financially and raises all sorts of questions when it comes to paying taxes. Generally, No Taxes Are Paid For Workers’ Compensation Benefits The good news about receiving weekly workers’ compensation benefits is that they are generally not taxed by either North Carolina or the Federal Government. Pursuant to IRS publications, amounts received as workers’ compensation for an occupational sickness or injury are fully exempt from tax as long as…Read More
If you practice workers’ compensation law and represent injured workers, then it will not take long before you need to advise a client on light duty. It becomes the same story every time. The worker suffers an injury while working. Someone from the employer tells the worker to seek treatment from the “company doctor” or some other physician that the workers’ compensation insurance company selects. Often before the cast comes off, or the scan results come back, or a specialist is consulted, the first doctor that the injured worker sees sends the worker back to the job on a “light duty” basis. A couple of things about light duty: Why does the employer want someone back on the job that cannot perform all of the normal job tasks because of their limitations? Often, it is not the employer that wants…Read More
IME stands for Independent Medical Examination. In my experience, there is rarely anything independent about the medical examinations. If your treating doctor (the physician that the insurance company originally selected to treat you at a place relatively close to where you live and work) recommends a surgery or expensive treatment, the workers’ compensation insurance company may send the injured worker for an IME before agreeing to authorize the doctor’s recommendations. In 2011 the law changed so that workers’ compensation insurance companies could send injured workers to as many IMEs as they wanted. As long as the injured worker was requesting benefits, the workers’ compensation carrier could request an IME. There was another big change with respect to IMEs. The workers’ compensation insurance company could have their attorney pick up the phone and call the IME physician about the injured worker’s…Read More
All too often I speak to injured workers about their potential workers’ compensation claims months after they were injured. Whether it is because they did not believe their injury was too severe, or whether their employer promised them help with their injury, many injured workers choose a “wait and see” approach when determining whether they need to file something with the employer or the insurance company. The best settlements in my experience are in cases where the injured worker sought proper documentation from the very beginning. In the absence of documentation, the employer and insurance company are able to challenge the injured worker about what happened when. The Industrial Commission determines a claimant’s credibility in large part about what the documents from early in the case show. There is a great deal of lawyer advertising in the public – on…Read More
Why Have I Not Heard Anything After Reporting My Injury To My Employer? There are several reasons why you may not have been contacted by anyone concerning your injury at work after reporting the injury to your employer: 1. Your employer may not have reported your injury to their workers’ compensation insurance carrier. Just because you reported the injury at work to your employer, this does not mean that they have taken the appropriate actions to address the possible benefits owed for the work injury. For employers with 3 or more employees, the employer is required to provide workers’ compensation coverage for its employees. When an employer obtains workers’ compensation coverage for its employees the insurance carrier providing this coverage will charge the employer premiums in order to provide this coverage for its employees. When an employer reports an injury…Read More
What Is The Process To Obtain Benefits For My Injury At Work? Any time someone is injured at work, the first thing you need to do is report the injury to your employer. This notice of injury may be reported to the employer verbally or in writing. Although you can provide verbal notice of any injury to your employer, I always recommend written notice of the injury to the employer so that there is documentation of the reported injury to the employer. This written notice can be via a letter to the employer or can be provided via completing an accident report for the employer. The report of injury to the employer should be provided within 30 days of the date of injury. Although the injured worker has 30 days to report the injury, I always recommend reporting the injury…Read More
When an employer or workers compensation insurance carrier accepts liability for an injury or is ordered to provide benefits by the N.C. Industrial Commission for a work place injury, the injured worker is entitled to receive 2 sets of benefits, disability compensation and medical compensation. Disability compensation takes 3 different forms: total disability, partial disability or a disability rating. Total Disability: When the injured worker is removed from all work he or she may be entitled to a total disability benefits based on 2/3rd of the wages the injured worker was earning during the year before the date of injury. When the injured worker is assigned work restrictions that prevent the injured workers’ return to work for the employer or any other employer, the injured worker may be entitled to total disability check based on 2/3rd of the wages the…Read More
When I talk with clients about the idea of settlement of a workers’ compensation claim, there are several things I always need to address. First, an injured worker does not have to settle his or her workers’ compensation claim and the employer and their workers’ compensation insurance carrier cannot make the injure worker settle your workers’ compensation claim. In workers’ compensation claims, neither party can ever be forced to settle the claim. What I mean by this is if a case goes to hearing before the N.C. Industrial Commission, the Deputy Commissioner presiding over the hearing can not order a settlement. At the hearing, the Deputy Commissioner can address the issues of payment for any past owed medical bills, payment of any past owed disability compensation, whether further medical treatment is needed due to the injury at work in which…Read More
Do I Have To Give Up My Job If I Settle My Workers’ Compensation Claim? When we discuss a settlement for a workers’ compensation claim there are several things we need to discuss at the outset. First, what is it that the injured worker wants to accomplish via settlement. Second, is the injured worker receiving sufficient compensation based on the terms of settlement. When we discuss the idea of what an injured worker wants to accomplish via settlement what I mean by this is does the injured worker want to settle the claim and move on the another employer or does the injured worker want to settle the claim and move forward with applying for Social Security Disability or does the injured worker want to settle the claim but continue to work for the employer or settle the claim but…Read More
Medical Treatment For Work Injury Does This Mean My Case Is Accepted? The short answer is not necessarily. When a person is injured at work and the employer or workers’ compensation insurance carrier are paying for medical treatment this can mean one of two things has occurred for the workers’ compensation claim. First, the employer or workers’ compensation insurance carrier has formally accepted liability for the work injury and agreed to provide benefits to the injured worker due to the injury at work. If the employer or workers’ compensation insurance carrier has filed a Form 60 with the N.C. Industrial Commission or if the employer or workers’ compensation insurance carrier has provided both disability checks and paid for medical treatment and it has been more than 90 days from the date the injured worker provide notice to the employer about…Read More
