Workers Compensation Lawyer

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Benefits Questions

What benefits am I entitled to?

If you have suffered a compensable job-related injury, you are entitled to receive Disability Benefits, Medical Benefits, Death Benefits, and Permanent Disability Benefits.

What are disability benefits?

Disability benefits are payments made to you at least bimonthly by your employer or your employer's Workers' Compensation insurance carrier if your authorized treatment doctor determines you are unable to work as a result of your job-related injury.

How much will I be paid for disability benefits and for how long?

You will be paid 2/3 of your average salary over the 52 weeks prior to the injury. The payments will begin after you have been off work for seven days. During this interim, you may use vacation time to supplement your income, but are not required to. Payments will continue as long as your authorized treating doctor believes you are unable to work or until you have reached Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI), as long as you comply with the doctor's recommendations for treatments. If you stop recommended treatments, your benefits may be stopped until you resume treatment.

What if I have been sent back to work on light duty, but my employer cannot provide light duty?

The authorized treatment doctor will give you specific guidelines about what constitutes light duty in terms of your injury. If your employer cannot provide light duty fitting that description, then you will remain off work at the same level of compensation as before.

What if I have been sent back to work on light duty, but earn less on light duty than I did before?

You are entitled to disability benefits whenever your work-related injury leads to a decrease in your income. If your employer pays you less on light duty, you are entitled to receive 2/3 of the difference between light duty and full duty pay as workers' compensation.

Example: If you earn $400 / week on full duty, but only $300 / week on light duty, you are entitled to 2/3 of the difference, $100, or $66.66 / week in workers' compensation.

What medical benefits can I expect?

Workers' Compensation covers the expenses of all treatment by your authorized treatment doctor, and any treatment by specialists recommended by your authorized treatment doctor. Medical treatments extend as long as recommended by your authorized treatment doctor. Mileage reimbursement may also be allowed if you must travel more than 15 miles each way to receive treatment.

Am I entitled to benefits if my provider dies as a result of a work-related injury, illness, or condition?

As a survivor, you are entitled to receive benefits, and you are entitled to a reimbursement of burial expenses up to seven thousand, five hundred dollars ($7,500). If there are no dependents, $20,000 will be paid to the estate of the deceased.

Does a heart attack or stroke count as a work-related injury?

If the heart attack or stroke was suffered while working, and can be shown to be a result of work-related activities, it may entitle the employee to workers' compensation benefits. In order to make a case for this, the event must be represented in the proper fashion. A worker's compensation lawyer can help you phrase your claim in the proper terms. You will also want to write down an account of the event as soon as you are able.

Reading through all these questions and answers, you can begin to appreciate how complex filing a workers' compensation claim can be, but that's only the very surface of the law. If these are your specific questions, the answers are abbreviated for the web page, and only apply to most cases, not necessarily to your case. To make your claim successful, you need someone who knows the full measure of the law.

Contact our workers compensation lawyer, Herbert Thornbury, Esquire, today and let him put my 30+ years of experience to work for you. Proudly serving Chattanooga, Tennessee and surrounding areas.