Some jobs are particularly dangerous or involve risks to your health and integrity, but anyone can suffer personal injury even in the most sedentary office work. Compensation laws exist to protect a worker who suffers from work related injuries, and ensure that they receive fair compensation to cover medical expenses, lost work days, and more.
You will ask yourself: “What happens if I suffer an injury at work?” We are going to give you some basic information about the workers compensation system so you know what kind of compensation you are entitled to, and in which cases you can request it.
To begin, let’s talk about the types of accident or injury that qualify as compensation cases.
In factories and other industrial environments, it is clear that any type of accident involving machinery, or injuries from working with hazardous or toxic chemicals qualify as workplace injuries. There are also less obvious cases, such as damage from working in an environment that is too noisy or with polluted air, or any accident involving a company vehicle. These injuries also deserve workers compensation.
A car accident, or trucking accidents are covered if you work as a driver, but usually not if they happen during your commute to and from work.
But even those who work in offices and commercial spaces, far from heavy machinery and chemicals, can suffer repetitive stress injuries – carpal tunnel syndrome is a good example of this – as well as falls and slips in the place where they work.
Psychological damages, such as stress or PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) in general, are not covered by Oklahoma’s workers compensation laws, unless its cause has been a physical injury such as those mentioned above.
In general, companies that have 5 or more employees are required to have workers compensation insurance in case of injuries, although there are several exceptions for farm work and others.
Oklahoma law provides for various types of compensation benefits for every sick or injured worker. Some of these types of benefits are:
- Medical benefits: they must cover your immediate medical care, and also any medical bills related to your recovery.
- Disability benefits: they cover a percentage of the lost wages you stopped receiving because of the injury, accident or illness. The amounts vary, and there are online calculators that can help you estimate the amount that corresponds to you.
- Vocational and rehabilitation benefits: they will help you rehabilitate and reintegrate into the workforce when your healing and recovery process is over.
- In the worst case, there are death benefits for the spouse or children of a worker who died in an accident at work. These cover funeral and burial expenses among others.
Everyone knows how difficult it is to get fair compensation from social security disability or an insurance company: sometimes it seems their job is to create obstacles and requirements to make your claim difficult and labor intensive. Add complications such as a medical malpractice, and you will see why you need a workers compensation lawyer to see you through.
Our law firm has excellent workers comp lawyers in Oklahoma city, who will help you file your workers compensation claim to obtain fair compensation for your injury or accident. If you need help, contact us for an initial consultation. It will be a pleasure for our compensation attorneys to help you with your claim.
