When it comes to a workplace injury, there are two separate categories that all injuries fall into: temporary or permanent disability. Obviously, the terms are quite indicative of what falls into each category. However, there are some key differences that you might want to understand as you begin to move forward with your worker’s compensation claim. Depending on your injury, your benefits will differ quite a bit…
Temporary or Permanent Disability: What’s The Difference?
Temporary disability
In this group, a person may experience an accident at work. Due to this injury, the person may not be able to go to work or fulfill duties of the job for a period of time. During this period, the employee can apply for temporary disability benefits. These benefits can provide the injured party with an income to make up for the loss of wages at work. These wages normally consist of about 2/3 of that employer’s weekly salary. There are both minimum and maximums to the amount of wages the benefits will match. However, at some point this employee will go back to working. Therein lies the difference between these two groups.
Permanent disability
Unlike the first group, permanent disability means an employee will not be able to return to work at all. In that case, this person will no longer be able to earn that income. Therefore, this employee may be able to receive a payment for this loss of wages. And the amount of the payment will depend on how severe the injury is. If the injury presents a larger limitation for that person, they will receive a larger payment. In addition, the amount may also depend on the age of the employee and the salary they were making at he time of the accident.
Knowing Your Benefits and Rights
No matter which group you may fall into, it is important to be familiar with the benefits that belong to you. If you’ve faced a workplace injury, it should not be your responsibility to cover the costs. When you are hurt on the job, you have certain rights that you might not understand. That’s where we come in…