Scranton Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Lawyers - Please visit: http://www.munley.com/workers_compensation_pennsylvania.html

Workers’ Compensation
Knowing Your Rights
A Guide for Workers in Any Occupation

Robert W. Munley
Marion Munley
Matthew A. Cartwright
J. Christopher Munley
Daniel W. Munley
Robert W. Munley III
Julia K. Munley
Caroline Munley
Phone: (570) 346-7401 Fax: (570) 346-3452
E-Mail Address: lawyers2@munley.com
Website: www.munley.com
1-800-346-7401

Workers’ Compensation Defined

Every job carries with it some degree of “risk” or what the dictionary defines as the chance of becoming injured. The key to a safe working environment is limiting the risk so as to limit the chance of injury.

Your employer may do his or her best to reduce on-the-job hazards and to create a safe work environment. Nevertheless, as the cliche goes: “accidents will happen.”

Workers’ compensation laws place accident responsibility on the employer. By definition, workers’ compensation makes industry responsible for compensating workers (or their survivors) injured or killed on the job.

No matter who is at fault or who is to blame for the accident, an injured worker has rights to receive compensation for the occupational injury.

For the most part, employers pay workers’ compensation premiums on the basis that the cost of work-related accidents is part of the expense of doing business. Under workers’ compensation, employers take on a substantial portion of an injured workers’ financial loss.

Workers’ compensation, however, is not a financial safety net that takes the place of a full-time job. The insurance does not pay back 100 percent of your wages. The insurance does not cover compensatory claims such as pain and suffering, loss of on-the-job dignity and confidence plus other “quality of life” issues.

The previous paragraph tells you what workers’ compensation is not. The next several pages in this booklet will explain your rights to receive workers’ compensation, should you be injured.

Injuries Covered By The Workers’ Compensation Act

In simplest terms, if your work causes you an injury, irritates an existing medical or physical condition or causes an illness, the law entitles you to workers’ compensation.

A physical or medical condition that already exists (a heart condition, diabetes or even high school sports injury) does not affect your eligibility for benefits.

For example, a man who for years had a problem with his right knee because of a football injury is eligible for workers’ compensation if the job makes his knee problem worse.

Work that irritates an existing disability or causes a disabling injury entitles you to benefits.

Employers who deny you workers’ compensation because of a prior back problem, a pre-existing heart condition or other reasons, either do not know the law or are not telling you the truth.

No compensation shall be paid when an injury or death is intentionally self-inflicted, or is caused by an employee’s violation of the law including, but not limited to, the illegal use of drugs. An injury or death caused by intoxication also may not be covered.

Work-Related Disease Or Illness

Long term exposure to chemicals, dust, fumes, solvents and various compounds may cause a serious illness or disease or irritate an existing medical or physical condition. A liquid you use readily today may be tomorrow’s cancer causing chemical.

You are eligible for workers’ compensation if your job causes, in whole or in part, your disease or illness.

How Much Will You Be Compensated?

Total Disability:

If you are totally disabled by your job, you are entitled to weekly cash benefits payable on the eighth day you cannot work. If your condition lasts more than 14 days, you may receive benefits payable after the first week. Such benefits are applicable for the length of your disability. These payments are tax free.

Total disability payments equal two-thirds of your pay or $779.00, whichever is lower. The $779.00 maximum weekly amount applies to workers injured in 2007. This number changes yearly.

Under recently enacted amendments to the Workers’ Compensation Act, your disability will be reviewed after two years. If you are not at least 50% disabled, according to the guidelines of the American Medical Association, your disability will convert to a partial disability and will extend for a period of 500 weeks.

Partial Disability:

A partial disability may keep you from performing your old tasks (and keep you from earning your old pay). Should a partial disability result in the loss of earnings (that is, what you used to receive), the law entitles you to weekly benefits equal to two-thirds of the difference between your average weekly wage at the time of the injury and your present earnings. You can receive these benefits for as long as 500 weeks or as long as you are working at the lower wage.

Specific Loss:

Workers’ Compensation covers injuries that cause you to lose certain parts of your body and injuries that cause you a permanent disfigurement of the head, face or neck. The law covers you if the injury disables a certain part of your body.

Payments follow the following guidelines:

Should you lose one-half of your thumb, finger or toe, the law entitles you to compensation for one-half of the weeks mentioned.

How To Compute Benefits: Average Weekly Wage Formulas

Compensation benefits are based upon your “average weekly wage,” a figure that may seem obvious to compute but involves a specific formula. You should know how to calculate this figure, so as to ensure correct payment. Talk with your employer and/or insurance carrier if you have questions about this benefit calculation.

Once again, total disability benefits are two thirds of your average weekly wage up to the maximum. For partial disabilities, if you return to work and earn less because of the injury, the law entitles you to two thirds of the difference between your average weekly wage and your post-injury earnings.

Since it is your right to get all the benefits under the law, you should know how to calculate the average weekly wage (AWW). A few dollars in your favor may mean hundreds of dollars over the life of the claim.

The AWW does not follow a standard 40 hour work week. It includes gross wages from all employers including overtime, incentives, bonuses, board, lodging, gratuities (if at least one-third of wages are in tips) and second jobs with no deductions. Please note, bonuses and vacation pay are pro rated over the entire year in which they are earned.

The following methods are used to calculate the AWW:

Method 1: Employee is paid on fixed weekly basis: AWW = weekly wage.

Method 2: Employee is paid on fixed monthly wage: AWW = monthly wage x 12 divide by 52.

Method 3: Employee is paid by fixed yearly wage:

Method 4: Employee is paid by hour, day or productivity: AWW shall be calculated by dividing by 13 the total wages earned in the employ of employer in each of the highest three of the last four consecutive periods of 13 calendar weeks in the 52 weeks immediately preceding the injury and by averaging the total amounts earned during these periods.

Method 5: New Employees

a). If the employee has not worked three consecutive periods of 13 weeks in the year preceding his work injury, the employee’s AWW is calculated by dividing by 13 any completed periods and by averaging the amounts earned during such periods.

b). If the employee has worked less than a complete 13 week period before his injury, the employee’s AWW is the employee’s hourly rate multiplied by the number of hours the employee was expected to work per week under the terms of employment. The Act does not specify whose expectation controls in the event of a dispute.

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