The answer to what does workers comp pay in benefits or money in Wisconsin depends on many factors, including the type of injury, the date of injury, whether the injury is temporary or permanent, the injured worker’s rate of pay and other issues. Keep in mind the threshold issue is whether the injury is work-related in order to garner any benefits.
Various parts of the body are paid in different amounts based upon the location and type of injury. For example, a permanent knee injury rated at 2% is paid fewer permanent disability benefits than a back injury with a 2% disability rating.
Temporary total disability checks are paid while an injured worker is in his period of healing, meaning has not reached a healing plateau according to his or her doctor. Permanent disability benefits are paid only if a doctor opines that the injury is work-related and permanent in nature.
The injured employee’s wage rate at the date of injury helps determine how much money is paid for both temporary disability and permanent disability workers compensation benefits. The date of injury for a single, traumatic injury is easy to determine, but it is more complicated to determine the date of injury for a work injury or condition that occurs over time. An occupational or injury that occurs slowly over time has a date of injury which is usually the date an employee first misses work due to the disability or the last date of work for the employer whose job duties contributed to the condition.
The most significant difference determining how much money a workers compensation case is worth in Wisconsin, is whether the injury is scheduled or nonscheduled. A scheduled injury is to an appendage such as a wrist or knee injury and the dollar amount is set by a schedule in the statutes. An unscheduled or nonscheduled injury, which is typically to the head, neck, back, chest or abdomen is based on a 1,000 weeks of disability times the loss of earning capacity percentage assigned by a vocational specialist. Only unscheduled injuries are eligible for a loss of earning capacity evaluation.
Vocational retraining benefits can be paid to an injured worker for either scheduled or unscheduled injuries if the injured worker has permanent work-related restrictions which prevent him or her from returning to his employer earning 85% to 90% of what he or she was earning at the time of injury.
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin McCormick Law Office attorneys get the best results in workers compensation cases by asking doctors to assign an appropriate permanent partial disability percentage and any permanent work restrictions and before determining what does workers comp pay in an honest and trustworthy manner.
