After an Injury at Work, What Benefits Am I Entitled to?

Work accidents happen and employers are insured to cover the cost of an injured worker’s losses and recovery.  In Minnesota, a worker injured while performing their job duties is entitled to benefits under the law.  However, sometimes injured workers can face some resistance from an insured employer when claiming their entitled workers’ compensation benefits.  Employers and insurance companies have been known to unfairly reduce, delay, or deny completely valid claims by exploiting legal loopholes or even by just ignoring the law.

At Gardner Law Office, we hold employers and insurers accountable for providing injured workers their benefits.  If you have been hurt at work, you may be asking yourself, “to what benefits am I entitled?”

Under Minnesota law, an injured worker is entitled to:

• Wage Loss

• Medical Bill Payments

• Rehabilitation/Retraining

• Permanent Partial Disability

Wage Loss

Wage loss benefits are payable as temporary total, temporary partial, or in some circumstances permanent total disability benefits.  In order to determine the amount of these payments, your average weekly wage will need to be calculated.  Using the average weekly wage, insurers will pay at the rate at two-thirds of the wage loss incurred, whether that be if you are out of work completely or making less money than before the work injury.  Don’t worry, wage loss benefits are tax-free.

If you are unable to work because you were hurt performing your job duties, you may be entitled to temporary total disability wage loss benefits if your doctor is restricting you from work.

If you have returned to work but earning less money than before the work injury, whether it be less hours, light-duty, or different employment all together, you may be entitled to temporary total disability wage loss benefits.

At Gardner Law Office, we work hard to obtain the fair lost wages an injured worker deserves while they do everything you can to physically improve.

Medical Expenses

If you have been hurt at work, you are entitled to treat with a physician, podiatrist, chiropractor, dentist, optometrist, osteopath, psychologist, psychiatric social worker, or any other person who furnishes a medical or health service of your choosing.  This also includes prescriptions, mileage and parking expenses incurred for your medical appointments.  The insurer is obligated to pay all bills that are reasonable, necessary and causally related to the work injury.  Sometimes, they don’t.  At Gardner Law Office, we fight for the injured workers to get these bills paid.

Rehabilitation/Retraining

In Minnesota Workers Compensation law, rehabilitation means assistance in preparing to return to a job related to the employee’s former employment or to a job in another work area which produces an economic status as close as possible to the pre-injury status.  This assistance is provided by a Qualified Rehabilitation Consultant (QRC).  To determine whether an employee is a “qualified employee” for  rehabilitation services, a QRC must conduct a rehabilitation consultation before a rehabilitation plan is put into action.  If you have been injured at work, you have the right to choose your QRC.  However, if you already have a QRC, you can select a different QRC of your choosing within 60 days after your rehabilitation plan is filed.

Under certain circumstances, you may be entitled to retraining benefits, a formal course of study in a school setting that is designed to train you to return to work in a different field.  If you qualify for retraining benefits and participate in an approved program, you could also be entitled to receive weekly compensation benefits.

Permanent Partial Disability

If you have a permanent loss of use or a functional impairment as result of the work injury, you may be entitled to permanent partial disability benefits (PPD).  Commonly, one-year after the injury, your doctor will give a permanent partial disability rating using the Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Permanent Partial Disability Schedule.  These benefits are payable either as installments or in a lump sum employee’s permanency rating to a set dollar amount determined by Minnesota.