Workers Compensation Overview

If you sustain an injury as a result of your job, you are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. Minnesota recognizes numerous types of injuries, all of which entitle you to workers’ compensation benefits.

“Specific Injuries”, or injuries which occur as a result of an incident or event, are covered under workers’ compensation. These types of injuries can occur as a result of slip and falls, lifting incidents, cuts and crush injuries, and include sprains and strains, contusions, fractures, tears, herniations, and heart attacks.

“Repetitive Injuries”, or injuries that occur as a result of doing your job duties over a period of days, weeks, months, or years, are also covered under workers’ compensation. Jobs involving repetitive lifting, pushing or pulling, assembly, operating machinery, computer work, phone work, driving, or extensive standing and walking, can all wear out muscles, cartilage, ligaments, and tendons. These types of injuries include degenerative disc disease, carpal tunnel syndrome, sprains and strains, tendinitis, bursitis, and arthritis.

Injuries can also occur as a result of an occupational exposure to chemicals, toxins, or diseases, which can cause systemic problems, including skin conditions, allergic reactions, asthma, and injury to lungs and other organs.

Workers’ compensation benefits are available not only for new injuries, but also for aggravations or gradual worsening of previous injuries, pre-existing or underlying conditions, including arthritis.

Workers’ Compensation benefits available to you include:

1. Medical benefits, including doctor examinations, chiropractic treatment, physical therapy, work hardening,       injections, medications, psychological or psychiatric counseling, durable medical goods such as scooters,       wheelchairs, braces, splints, and TENS units, and pain clinics;
2. Wage Loss Benefits, including weekly monetary benefits if you are unable to work or if your employer is unable (or unwilling) to accommodate your restrictions, or if you have a drop in your earnings as a result of your injury;
3. Vocational Rehabilitation Benefits; including assistance from a Qualified Rehabilitation Consultant (“QRC”) of your choice. Vocational Rehabilitation Benefits include medical management to help schedule and coordinate your medical treatment, assistance in returning you to a job that is physically appropriate, and if you have a significant drop in your earning capacity as a result of your injury, you may qualify for additional schooling, skills enhancements, or retraining which will give you the additional help you may need to earn what you would have earned if you did not have your injury;
4. Permanent Partial Disability Benefits; which is payment for loss of use of your injury body part. Your physician will assign a permanent partial disability rating from a list of permanent impairments and the workers’ compensation statute converts that rating into a monetary payment to you. “PPD” benefits can be paid weekly at your normal workers’ compensation rate, or you can elect to receive your PPD in a lump sum (subject to a deduction of up to 5%).

The amount of workers’ compensation benefits you receive depends on a large variety of factors, including the amount of time you are unable to work, the severity of your injury, whether your injury is temporary or permanent, your pre-injury average weekly wage, and whether you can again earn what you were able to earn before you got hurt.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your claim for workers’ compensation benefits, please contact our firm. There is no charge for the initial consultation. Further, you would not pay any attorney fees unless there is a recovery of disputed benefits as a result of our involvement. In other words, as long as the insurance company continues to pay the appropriate benefits, you do not pay attorney fees even though you would obtain legal advice when you need it most… now. The decisions you make now may have a significant impact on your claim for additional benefits.