Practice Area: Worker's Compensation 1 of 2

THE BASIC RIGHTS OF INJURED WORKERS

Every employer in Massachusetts is required by law, G.L.c. 152, to carry workers’ compensation insurance that protects employees from any physical or mental injury occurring at work that leads to disability and/or need for medical treatment.

The Massachusetts workers’ compensation law is a wage replacement insurance system that replaces the employee’s lost wages so long as the employee remains disabled from earning the same wages he or she earned prior to the industrial accident. Replacing lost wages and providing medical benefits, to aid the injured employee recover from the injuries sustain in the work accident, constitute the bulk of benefits under the Massachusetts worker’s compensation law.

There are four general areas that the workers’ compensation law covers: (1) Weekly disability benefits, (2) medical benefits, (3) specific permanent loss of function/scarring/disfigurement other than scarring benefits and (4) Vocational Rehabilitation Benefits.

Following are some of the basic rights that are currently in effect:

• Right to receive temporary total weekly disability benefits of 60% of one’s average weekly wage as calculated for 52 week (or less) immediately prior to the industrial accident;
• Right to receive temporary partial weekly disability benefits of 60% of the difference between what one could earn prior to the injury and what one could earn after the injury.
• With limited exceptions, the right to treat with a doctor(s) of one’s choice;
• The right to be reimbursed for all out-of-pocket expenses incurred as a result of the industrial accident;
• The right to be reimbursed for any permanent loss of function to any body part/structure;
• The right to be reimbursed for any scarring to the hands, face or neck;
• The right to be reimbursed for any disfigurement other than scarring;
• The right to seek vocational rehabilitation (retraining) in the event that the injured employee cannot return to his/her former job as a result of the industrial accident.

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