Types of Benefits

If you are a worker in Georgia who suffered an injury or illness because of your job, you should be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits.

Employers in Georgia who have three or more employees are required to carry workers’ compensation insurance. They must participate in a program that is designed to protect and provide benefits to workers just like you. Benefits can also assist dependents of workers who die as a result of their job-related injury or occupational disease. The Mann Law Firm wants you to be aware of the following types of workers’ compensation benefits that are available to qualifying Georgia workers or their surviving dependents:

Medical Benefits

This is a dollar-for-dollar reimbursement of money spent on medical care related to your qualifying injury or illness. Your emergency treatment, tests, casts, operations, assistive devices, medications and therapy should all be covered. You should also be reimbursed for travel and other expenses related to your medical care.

Temporary Disability Benefits

Workers who suffer an injury or illness that keeps them from returning to their job on only a temporary basis can obtain these benefits. They fall into two categories:

• Temporary total disability benefits – These benefits are available if a physician determines you cannot work. You can receive up to two-thirds of the average weekly wage you earned at the time of the injury or illness. Unless your injury is “catastrophic” (for instance, you lost a limb or suffered a severe burn), you won’t receive benefits beyond 400 weeks from the date of your injury.
• Temporary partial disability benefits – These benefits are available if you can return to work but only at a job that involves lighter duty and less pay than what you earned before. You can receive up to two-thirds of the difference between your average weekly wage before and after the injury. Your benefits would stop 350 weeks after the date of your injury.

Permanent Disability Benefits

If your physician determines your disability is permanent – that it will keep you from returning to work for 12 months or more – you could receive temporary total disability benefits for as long as you are disabled. If you can work (but only at a lesser-paying job), you would receive benefits based on a disability rating assigned to you.

Death Benefits

These benefits are paid to eligible dependents of a worker who died from a job-related injury or illness. The dependents may receive up to two-thirds of the worker’s average weekly wage at the time of the fatal accident. The benefits include funeral expense reimbursements. Please note: Workers’ compensation benefits cannot be combined. Only one type of benefit is payable at a time.

Learn More About Your Rights to Georgia Workers’ Compensation Benefits

If you would like to know more about the different types of workers’ compensation benefits available to you in Georgia, speak with a lawyer from the Mann Law Firm. We assist workers and their families in Macon and throughout Middle Georgia. Call or contact us online today. We will provide a free consultation about your case.