Workers' Compensation

Birmingham, Alabama

Obtaining Workers' Compensation

Workers' Compensation helps employees who have become injured or sick from a work-related or on-the-job accident. It is designed as an alternate system for dealing with on-the-job injuries and ideally it should provide for the needs of injured employees while protecting their employers from lawsuits. While this is true in a lot of cases, the system sometimes does not work as intended. At the Burke, Harvey, and Frankowski law firm in Birmingham, Alabama, we have the knowledge and information you need to be certain that you receive the worker’s compensation benefits you are due when you have suffered an on-the-job injury.

Applying for Workers' Compensation

Under Alabama law, if you are inured on the job, you are required by law to do certain things. You must:

1. Report your injury immediately to your supervisor, boss, or employer.
2. Check with your supervisor, boss, or employer about which doctor you should see for your work-related injury. Your employer will designate which doctor you can see for treatment. If you are unsatisfied with this doctor, you can notify your employer and choose a different doctor from a list of four other doctors provided by your employer.
3. Wait three days before receiving compensation. While you may apply for compensation immediately it will be at least three days before you begin to receive it and compensation for the first three days may be paid to you later.

Qualifying for Workers' Compensation

In order to qualify for workers' compensation, your injury must be work-related and must be either partly or totally disabling. In addition, you cannot receive compensation if any of the following apply:

• You caused the accident through willful misconduct
• The injury was caused by a person acting against you personally, rather than as an employee, such as in the case of a disgruntled boyfriend/ girlfriend/ spouse
• You were deliberately attempting to injure or kill yourself or another person
• You were under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol
• You failed to use safety equipment made available to you in the workplace
• You were in dereliction of a statutory duty
• You were in knowing violation of a reasonable rule or regulation of your employer
• You wait more than 2 years to apply

Amount of Compensation

The amount of compensation you receive will be equal to 2/3 of your average weekly earnings for the 52 weeks prior to your injury. If your spouse or supporting parent was killed in a work-related accident, then the amount of compensation is equal to 1/2 of the employee's average weekly earnings if the employee had only 1 dependant or 2/3 if the employee had two or more dependants. If an employee is killed with no dependants, a one-time payment of $7500 is made to the estate of the deceased. In addition, the employer will pay $3000 toward burial expenses.

Your benefits must fit within the allowed maximum and minimum compensation as determined by the state of Alabama's Department of Industrial Relations, Workers' Compensation Division. Until July 1, 2008, the maximum weekly compensation is $682 and the minimum is $188.

The length of your compensation may also be limited by state law. If you have suffered partial disability as a result of your injury, compensation is limited to 300 weeks, even if the disability is permanent. In the event of an employee's death, dependants can only receive compensation for 500 weeks. If you have received total disability, whether permanent or partial, you are entitled to compensation for as long as you are disabled.

In addition to wage compensation, your employer will pay for all necessary medical treatment, including:

• Visits to doctors, surgeons, and chiropractors
• Prescription medication
• All supplies used during surgery or other treatment
• Crutches, artificial limbs, and other apparatus necessary for you to function.

All benefits will cease if you refuse to submit to an examination by your doctor requested by your employer. In addition, you may be asked to return to "light duty," rather than continue to receive compensation, if your doctor authorizes it.

This is just an overview of the worker’s compensation laws of Alabama. To successfully navigate the system and deal with employers who may be hostile to your claim, you need an experienced workers' compensation lawyer. Contact Birmingham, Alabama personal injury lawyers Burke, Harvey, and Frankowski today for a free initial consultation.

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