Workers’ compensation offers disability benefits that can help a worker deal with the loss of their income. A worker who can never go back to work again because of how badly they got hurt can claim permanent disability benefits to replace the wages they no longer earn. A worker who needs a leave of absence while they wait for surgery or heal from a broken phone can receive temporary disability benefits.
However, there are many workers whose injury falls into a gray area between fully healable and permanently disabling. Does Georgia workers’ compensation offer any form of protection for those with permanent injuries that limit their job function but not their ability to work?
Permanent partial disability help those with long-term consequences
You don’t have to have an injury so bad that you can never work again for a job-acquired medical condition to have lifelong financial implications for your family. If you have long worked as a welder in construction and will now only be able to take minimum wage customer service jobs, your earning potential will decrease substantially because of your injury.
Permanent partial disability benefits can help cover at least some of the gap between what a worker earned before their injury and the wages they can command after the injury. The more severe the limitations the injury causes, the more likely it is that a worker will need permanent partial disability benefits because of the change in their earning potential.
Can your employer help you continue to do the same job?
Getting the workers’ compensation benefits that you qualify for is important, but so is getting the right support to help you transition back to work. In many cases, workers dealing with an on-the-job injury may have the right to request reasonable accommodations from their employer.
A reasonable accommodation could be something as simple as the right to take a break every 20 minutes to stretch or assistive technology that takes the strain off of your body. Evaluating whether proper supports and possibly rehabilitation services could help you stay in the same pay bracket is an important part of the workers’ compensation process.
Knowing your rights makes it easier to navigate workers’ compensation and get the support you need after an injury. Getting the support of a local attorney who will give you personalized attention during your claim can make all the difference for you during your recovery. You can call the office of Steven L. Morgan, P.C. at 912-289-0640 or send an email through the website.
