Workers’ compensation has two types of benefits. First is medical, where any injuries that arose out of your action will be covered and provided by workers’ compensation. This includes any required medication, physical therapy, authorized surgeries and the like.
There are also workers’ compensation indemnity benefits which are meant to replace the injured employee’s lost wages. It’s a weekly benefit that’s based on what they determine your average weekly wage has been, calculated by looking at your earnings in the year prior to being injured.
There are no payments for pain and suffering in the case of a workers’ compensation injury, unless it can be found that there is some type of third-party liability. The indemnity payment is intended to represent your lost wages benefits.
Q: Are there any benefits for an injured worker’s dependents?
Not in a typical case, but there are cases where a worker died as a result of their workplace injury, and at that point, the surviving spouse and children are often entitled to receive a death benefit.