Sustaining an injury at work can bring your normal life to a complete stop. A serious injury that prevents you from working can cause you incredible stress over how you are going to pay your bills and take care of your loved ones.
Depending on the type and seriousness of your injury, you may also worry about being able to go back to work again. On top of everything, you are likely going to many medical appointments and watching the medical bills pile up.
Fortunately, under Wisconsin law, you can file a worker’s compensation claim after a workplace accident. Aside from some exceptions, public and private employers in Wisconsin must provide worker’s compensation to employees.
Medical expenses
A successful worker’s compensation claim can help you with various types of expenses. You can receive compensation for medical expenses that are deemed “reasonably required to cure and relieve the effects of the injury” and mileage reimbursement for traveling to medical appointments.
Determining what medical expenses are reasonably required to treat your injury can be tricky. Your doctor should send documentation related to your injury to your worker’s compensation insurance company.
Lost wages
You can also receive compensation of up to two-thirds of your average weekly wage to replace your lost wages. You are not taxed on the lost wage benefits; however, you can only receive the lost wage benefits until you reach a certain point in your healing process.
It can be difficult to know exactly when this is, and it is going to depend on the specific circumstances of your injury and your job duties. Your doctor could eventually conclude that some of all your injuries are permanent, and you cannot return to your old job.
Job retraining
In that case, you could qualify for vocational retraining benefits, which would help you develop new skills you could use at a new job.
There are many factors that go into determining what type of compensation you will receive, and how much. It is best to go through the process with the help of a worker’s compensation attorney.