Workers’ compensation laws can protect you if you get hurt on the job. The types of injuries covered by workers comp include physical injuries, occupational illnesses, and some psychological and stress-related conditions.
To be entitled to workers’ comp benefits, injuries don’t have to be a result of sudden accidents like heavy machinery falling on your feet or breaking a bone on the job. Some work-related illnesses or injuries progressively develop over time before they become noticeable. Some workers can acquire diseases on the job, and they too can file for workers comp.
It is also important to remember that in most cases, under Iowa workers’ compensation laws you do not have to prove fault to recover, you just have to prove that the injury is related to your work.
What Are The Requirements For Workers’ Comp
Whether you’ve sustained a sudden illness or cumulative trauma, you must be able to prove that your illness or injury arose out of your employment or occurred during the course of your employment.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) says an injury or illness is work-related only when an event or environmental exposure caused or contributed to it. Proving that the injury arose out of and in the course of your work questions is fairly simple when an illness or injury directly results from an accident in the workplace. Things get more complicated for conditions that developed over time or cannot be pegged to a specific incident.
What Are The Possible Benefits Of Workers Comp
The laws regulating workers comp are subject to state law. Iowa law provides the following benefits for workers:
Medical Bills:
Workers’ compensation should reimburse a worker for their medical expenses to help them recover from work-related illnesses or injuries. Because your condition isn’t sudden, you should report the condition to your employer and ask them to send you to medical treatment. If you seek medical attention outside the list of suggested doctors, ensure you document your medical chart and expenses. Medical attention that is not directed by your employer may not be reimbursed.
Temporary Disability Benefits:
If your illness or injury prevents you from performing your regular job and leads to a temporary loss in wages, you are entitled to a temporary disability benefit or healing period. Temporary disability benefits pay approximately two-thirds of your wages before your illness or injury.
Permanent Disability Benefits:
If your injury or illness is so severe that you are determined to have a partial permanent disability, you are entitled to receive permanent disability benefits. This will pay you the percentage of function that you lost due to your injury.
Industrial Disability:
These workers comp benefits are paid when you are not able to return to your regular job or a job that pays the same amount after recovery from injury in Iowa.
Death Benefits:
This is when a worker dies from a work-related injury or illness. In this case, the next of kin are entitled to file for workers comp.
Speak with A Workers Comp Lawyer in Iowa
Workers’ comp laws can be complicated and easily misunderstood. If you believe you’ve suffered an injury or illness as a result of your job, whether that injury happened all at once or got worse over time, contact Platt Law Firm so you know your rights.
An experienced workers comp lawyer will review your case and explain your rights. A workers comp lawyer will also explain the limits of your case and what you should expect.
Need to talk to a lawyer for workers’ compensation in Des Moines and Urbandale, Iowa? Contact Platt Law Firm today at 515-346-6659.