How Will My Lawyer Calculate My Workers’ Compensation?
Your lawyer will calculate your workers’ compensation benefits based on the specific details of your employment as well as the injury or illness that has led you to seek workers’ compensation.
Because workers’ compensation generally covers a portion of your average income and medical costs from your work-related injury or illness, there is no general answer for precisely how your lawyer will value your workers’ compensation payments.
Your Circumstance Is Unique
Every workers’ compensation claim is unique, and calculating the amount of benefits that you may be entitled to requires familiarity with your specific circumstances. Per Louisiana Revised Statutes (RS) §23:1221, injured workers in Louisiana may be able to receive two-thirds of their regular wages and the costs of their medical treatment in a workers’ compensation claim.
With this in mind, your lawyer may consider the following factors when calculating your workers’ compensation:
- The specific injury or illness that you have been diagnosed with
- The severity of the injury or illness that you have been diagnosed with
- How long you have been unable to work
- The recovery time frame for your injury or illness
- Whether your injury or illness is considered a partial or total disability
- Whether your injury or illness is considered permanent or temporary
Each of these factors could affect how your lawyer will calculate the amount of workers’ compensation you may be entitled to.
Your Ailment May Determine the Value of Your Workers’ Compensation
The specific injury or illness that you suffered from work-related circumstances may be central to the amount of compensation that you are eligible to receive. There are many injuries that can occur in a work setting and prevent you from working for some period of time, including:
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI), which could have lasting effects that may interfere with your ability to work
- Spinal cord injury
- Broken bones
- Severe burns
- Soft tissue injury
- Injury to one or more organs
Each of these injuries, and their severity, can determine who long it takes an employee to recover and return to work. This may factor into how a lawyer calculates a client’s workers’ compensation.
The specific nature of the injury may also determine how it is categorized with respect to disability benefits. These general categories include:
- Permanent Total Disability
- Temporary Total Disability
- Permanent Partial Disability
Another factor in calculating workers’ compensation are Supplemental Earnings Benefits (SEB). According to the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC), you may be entitled to SEB in the case that you are able to return to work at some point, but your earnings are less because of the effects of your injury or illness.
A Lawyer Can Guide Your Claim to a Resolution
The steps required to complete a workers’ compensation claim may be more strenuous than you realize. The process can be complicated, and your claim may face potential issues.
If you hire a workers’ compensation lawyer to represent you, they can deal with the many possible issues that can arise during the workers’ compensation claim process, including:
- Your employer or their insurance company asserting that your injury or illness is not work-related
- Your employer or their insurance company alleging that you were intoxicated, or engaging in horseplay at the time of your injury
- A dispute about the amount of average weekly wages you earned prior to being injured or becoming sick
- A dispute about the specific types of treatment your injury or illness requires
Your lawyer can manage your claim from the time that it is filed until its resolution.
Call Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers Today
If you are seeking help with your workers’ compensation case in or around Lafayette or Alexandria, Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers may be able to help you.
If you qualify, a lawyer from our firm can handle your pursuit of workers’ compensation benefits and the communications in your case so that you may avoid the stress of dealing with insurance companies. Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers handles many cases on a contingency-fee-basis with no up-front payments required.
Call Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers today at (337) 777-7777 for a free consultation on your case with a member of our team. We can discuss how our lawyers may be able to calculate your workers’ compensation during this call.
