Tom McCutcheon – Attorney at Law
Q: I was hurt on the job and my employer’s worker’s compensation insurance paid for all my medical bills and sent me money while I was off work. My doctor has said I can go back to work on limited duty and my employer has said that they will find me something to do. Overall, I’ve been treated pretty well but what happens when the doctor removes all the restrictions and I’ve finally recovered and go can back to my old job? I am a welder.
Andy
Rogersville, AL
A: Workers compensation is there to pay your medical bills and pay 2/3 of your wages while you are off work. The 2/3 of your wages is known as temporary total disability or TTD. That is supposed to approximate your true wages because that pay is tax free. In real life, people find TTD to be less than their wages and they end up short on money unless they savings or a spouse that has an income.
Your employer is saving money by accommodating your restrictions. Everything that you cost them from medical bills to the final settlement will be recovered by the insurance company in the form of increased workers compensation premiums. Nonetheless, many employers treat workers well and welcome them back to work while others are not so kind. Many employers don’t want an injured employee on their premises and really resent an employee that gets hurt.
I talk to people that are injured on the job every day, several times a day. Often people who get hurt want to tell me why it is the employer’s fault or a co-employee’s fault that they were hurt. I explain to them that under the law of workers compensation, they don’t have to prove who was at fault. There is an interesting case where an employee had a trip and fall injury and could not say why they had a trip and fall injury or what they tripped over and the court held that that was not a work related injury even though it happened on the job at Wal-Mart.
Under the Workers Compensation Act if you have a permanent injury, typically after surgery, you will be entitled to some payment for that permanent injury. If you make a full recovery, and I hope you do, and the doctor gives you no restrictions and a zero impairment rating and you haven’t had surgery, after your medical bills are paid and your TTD is paid and your mileage is reimbursed that probably concludes your claim. If you do have a permanent injury, depending on what part of your body was injured, you will have a claim for payment. Under certain circumstances, workers have the right to insist on vocational re-training for a job more suitable for them after their injury.
If you have any further questions about your case or would like to talk to me in person, I’ll be happy to answer any question that you have.
Buckle up and drive safely.
McCutcheon & Hamner, P.C.
2210 Helton Drive
Florence, Alabama 35630
Telephone: 256-764-0112
Facsimile: 256-349-2529
