Alabama Workers’ Compensation: What Benefits are Available to Injured Workers?

Alabama Workers’ Compensation: What Benefits are Available to Injured Workers?

Injured workers in Alabama who suffer a compensable job injury may be entitled to several different types of benefits, but most injured workers really do not know what benefits they might be entitled to receive.  This is one reason why if you have suffered a job injury-regardless of how slight or severe-it is worth your time to at least talk with an experienced Alabama Job Injury Lawyer to discuss your rights.

Some benefits injured workers are entitled to receive are as follows:

Medical Benefits

Your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance company should pay for all reasonable and necessary medical care related to your work injury or illness, without any copays or deductibles.

Additionally, injured employees are entitled to receive reimbursement for travel expenses to and from doctors’ medical appointments-and with gas prices these days, this amount can be significant.

Wage Loss Benefits

If your doctor says that you aren’t able to work while you’re recovering from your injury or illness, you’re entitled to weekly payments from workers’ comp after a 3-day period.  There are two types of temporary disability benefits:

Temporary partial disability (TPD) covers periods when you’re earning less because of your work injury or occupational disease, but you’re still getting treatment and recovering. For instance, you may have to cut back on your hours or move temporarily to a lower-paying position that accommodates any restrictions on the work you can do.  In Alabama, an injured worker’s tpd benefits would be 2/3rds of the difference between what their 52-week average weekly wage was prior to their injury vs. what they are able to earn while recovering from their injury.  For instance, if you are making $100 less a week, you would be entitled to $66.67 from workers’ comp in TPD benefits.

Temporary total disability (TTD) covers periods during your recovery when you can’t work at all, because your doctor has taken you off work entirely or has given your work restrictions that your employer can’t/won’t accommodate.  In Alabama, an injured worker who is totally off work due to a work injury is entitled to 2/3^rds of their average weekly wage.

You right to “temporary” benefits ends once: you are returned to full duty work or the treating physician decides that you have reached maximum medical improvement (MMI).

Permanent Disability Benefits

Once you’ve reached MMI, your doctor will evaluate you to see whether—and to what extent—you have any lasting physical or mental limitations as a result of your work injury. If you’re totally and permanently disabled, you generally will receive payments for the rest of your life unless you reach a lump-sum settlement-with lifetime medical benefits covering your job injury. If you’re partially disabled, the doctor usually rates the level of your limitations or lost function and that rating will be one factor in determining how much compensation the injured worker would be entitled to receive as a result of their job injury.

Vocational Benefits

If you are not able to return to your old job after you reach MMI and if you permanent injury is to a non-scheduled body part, or if your injury affects your body as a whole, then you are entitled to vocational consideration.

Death Benefits

If a family member died as a result of a work injury or illness, you may be able to collect workers’ comp death benefits.

If you have suffered a job injury and you have questions about your right to Alabama workers’ compensation benefits, don’t hesitate to contact Powell and Denny and speak with one of the experienced workers compensation lawyers and schedule a free consultation and let us see if we can help.  Appointments are available in person, or virtually through Zoom for your convenience from wherever you live.

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Powell and Denny have been selected as one of the Best Law Firms by U.S. News and World Report for each of the last 9 years, have been selected as one of Birmingham’s Top Lawyers by B-Metro Magazine for the last 5 years, have been selected by The National Advocates as one of the Top 20 Workers’ Compensation Firms (plaintiffs) and Powell and Denny, P.C.-has been selected as one of the “Best of the Best” law firms by The American Registry and included in the list as one of the Mid-South’s Super Lawyers.

Mr. Denny is AV rated by Martindale Hubbard (the highest rating possible) and Mr. Powell has been rated as Superior by The National Registry

+ Powell and Denny have successfully represented injured workers from Birmingham, Huntsville, Florence, Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia, Athens, Decatur, Town Creek Ardmore, Hartselle, Madison, Toney, Scottsboro, Ft. Payne, New Hope, Guntersville, Albertville, Boaz, Ashville, Anniston, Gadsden, Cullman, Jasper, Gardendale, Morris, Kimberly, Centerpoint, Leeds, Tarrant City, Fairfield, Hueytown, Bessemer, Adger, Tuscaloosa, Cordova, Alabaster, Pelham, Harpersville, Opelika, Phenix City, Montgomery, Clanton, Calera, Enterprise, Monroeville, Mobile, Evergreen, Dothan, Alabaster, Pelham, Trussville and towns and cities in between.

Alabama Workers’ Compensation: What Benefits are Available to Injured Workers?