NC Workers Compensation

If the claim is accepted by the insurance company, then the injured worker will have to get treatment with physician that the insurance company selects. If the claim is denied, then the injured worker is free to see who they want with the hope that the insurance company will pay the bills later in a compromise or that the bills are ordered to be paid by the insurance company by the Industrial Commission.

The North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Act requires that an injured worker notify their employer in writing within 30 days of suffering a workplace injury. It is the injured worker’s responsibility to file a “Form 18” with the North Carolina Industrial Commission.

Disability benefits are paid to injured workers in accepted claims (or claims where the workers’ compensation insurance company admits that the worker is entitled to compensation). Weekly benefits are paid when there is total disability (the injured worker is not capable of any work) or when they can return to work at lesser wages (partial disability). Permanent partial impairment ratings are also paid out over a set period of weeks on some case.

They certainly could be. If the injury is compensable, the worker might be entitled to medical compensation and possibly even compensation for a disability rating.

Workers’ compensation insurance companies are supposed to accept or deny a claim within 30 days of notice of the claim. However, the insurance company can ask for an extension of time up to 90 days to make a decision. More recently, the trend is for insurance companies to place conditions on their acceptances – they accept claims as “medical only” on a Form 63 or only accept some of the body parts that require treatment.