Were you injured on the job in Minnesota? Workplace injuries due to machinery, negligence, and other dangerous conditions often cause income loss and high hospital bills. What coverage does Minnesota offer for those who file workers comp claims? Don’t wait because you could earn wage loss, medical, or vocational rehab benefits.
This brief guide will describe all you need to know before you get the help of a Minneapolis workers’ compensation lawyer. What types of accidents qualify for workers comp in Minnesota, and what coverage options are there?
Who Is Eligible for Workers Compensation in Minnesota?
Anyone who suffers from injuries that their work caused or aggravated qualifies for workers’ compensation. Repetitive strain, post-traumatic stress disorder, diseases, certain mental afflictions, and serious injuries are all valid in awarding damages.
Minnesota handles workers’ compensation as a no-fault system. That means that as the victim, you don’t have to prove that your workplace or employer was negligent. In addition, your employer cannot claim that you, the worker, gained injuries because you were negligent. To qualify, workers must only show how the workplace contributed to their pain.
What Compensation Options Are There?
Minnesota offers three broad categories of compensation: wage-loss benefits, medical benefits, and vocational rehab. Each has subcategories depending on the severity of your injury and your leave of absence from employment.
Wage-Loss Benefits
Wage-loss benefits are for those who cannot work or earn their full wage due to workplace injuries. The three types include:
- Temporary total disability
- Temporary partial disability
- Permanent total disability
Temporary total disability is for those with injuries enough to handicap but for non-permanent periods. After a waiting interval of three days following the injury, TTD will start. For up to 130 weeks, workers with this type of monetary benefit will earn a tax-free sum of 2/3rds of their weekly income.
Temporary partial disabilities are injuries that allow you to return to work, albeit not at full ability. TPD lets workers earn two-thirds of the difference between their average wage before the accident and their income afterward. This coverage is tax-free and usually cannot last over 275 weeks.
Permanent total disability benefits are for those who cannot ever return to their job due to severe injuries. PTD covers two-thirds of the gross weekly wage you were earning. Duration, minimums, and maximums of PTD coverage vary by case.
Wage-loss benefits can run out if you reach the maximum weeks of coverage or if you are no longer losing money from work. Your insurer may also cut off the benefits if 90 days have passed since maximum medical improvement.
Death and Permanent Disability
If you lost permanent use of a body part in a workplace accident, you could enact PPD coverage. A doctor will assess your injury, and the court will assign a monetary value to the lost parts.
If a worker dies leaving a spouse, child, or dependent, they may qualify for dependency benefits for a time. Worker’s compensation will pay for the cost of burial up to $15,000.
Medical Benefits
Medical benefits grant accident victims reimbursement for health care treatment, prescription medication, and mileage to examination sites. To take advantage of this compensation, you must send your hospital bills to your healthcare provider while your claim is valid.
In addition, in Minnesota, workers may enroll in certified management care (CMC) plans that automatically coordinate emergency medical treatment. CorVel, Genex, and HealthPartners are the state’s available CMCs.
To reap medical benefits, your insurer may ask you to participate in an independent medical exam (IME). If they do, they must reimburse for mileage.
Vocational Benefits
Lastly, workplace accident victims may earn vocational benefits. Job rehab services, a disability case manager, and retraining are helpful services injured workers may earn. They do not award money, but they help individuals ease back into working.
Conclusion
Were you in an accident and think you might qualify for workers’ compensation benefits? Don’t lose your chance to file a claim. You could earn monetary, medical, and vocational benefits. We will fight to protect you even if an insurer denies you coverage.
