What Work Comp Benefit Can You Get in North Carolina?

What Work Comp Benefit Can You Get in North Carolina?

A work comp benefit is what an injured worker gets following a work-related injury or illness. Generally, a work injury or illness can cause both health and financial disruptions. This is why North Carolina laws mandate all employers to pay workers’ compensation to their injured employees.

The work comp benefit compensates you for some of the losses and keeps you afloat until you return to work. The work comp benefit you get depends on the work injury and the time you need to recover. This article looks at the different work comp benefits in North Carolina. Our Charlotte workers’ comp lawyers at Waple and Houk can help you if you suffer a work-related injury or illness.

What Are the Work Comp Benefits Available in North Carolina?

Below we discuss the different benefits available to injured workers in Charlotte and other parts of North Carolina.

Temporary Disability Benefits

Injured workers who are unable to return to their jobs while recovering from a work injury or illness are eligible for temporary total disability (TTD) benefits. These benefits don’t kick in immediately, as the first seven days of your disability are not covered. Instead, TTD payments start after you’ve been out of work for more than 21 days.

When you qualify for TTD, you’ll receive two-thirds of your average weekly earnings at the time you were injured, capped at the legal maximum for the year your injury occurred. For example, if you were injured in 2020, the maximum benefit was $1,066 per week, with a minimum of $30 per week.

If you can return to work but not at your previous capacity, you’ll receive temporary partial disability (TPD) benefits. This means you’ll get two-thirds of the difference between your former wages and your current earnings. For instance, if you made $1200 per week before your injury but now earn $600 on light duty, you would receive $400 weekly in TPD benefits.

Both TTD and TPD benefits are capped at 500 weeks. If you need to extend your TTD benefits beyond this period, you must prove that you still cannot work. Additionally, under North Carolina law, if you’re receiving full Social Security retirement benefits, your TTD benefit amount will be reduced by the amount of your Social Security payments.

Permanent Disability Benefits

Before getting permanent disability benefits, a doctor examines you to see if you’ve attained Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI). MMI means that there is nothing more medical science can do to improve your condition. After the MMI examination, you’ll also get examined to see if your job injury caused permanent limitations. The amount you’ll get as a benefit depends on the body part affected and your impairment rating.

Scheduled Loss of Use Awards vs. Unscheduled Permanent Partial Disability Awards

Suppose your work injury causes you to permanently lose a body function, like seeing, hearing, or limb loss. Your permanent partial disability benefit will follow a schedule that specifies the maximum number of weeks for each affected body part. You’ll receive payments equal to two-thirds of your average weekly wages, multiplied by the appropriate number of weeks based on your impairment rating.

North Carolina allows you to receive permanent disability benefits all at once instead of weekly stipends. For unscheduled disability award, you can also get a lump sum for some of the following partial disabilities:

• Loss of or permanent damage to a significant organ or any body part that the schedule doesn’t cover
• Severe disfigurement to the face or head
• Severe disfigurement to another body part the scheduled loss doesn’t cover

Contact an experienced Charlotte work comp lawyer to know the appropriate benefits you can get for your work-related injury.

What Other Benefits Can You Get?

North Carolina workers’ comp laws also provide additional benefits:

1. Vocational Rehabilitation: You can get this benefit if you’ve been unable to return to work at 75% or more of your pre-injury wages and need to get vocational rehabilitation services like education or retraining.
2. Death Benefits and Funeral Expenses: If an employee dies due to a work injury, their surviving beneficiaries can get death benefits. They will also get funeral and burial expenses up to $10,000.
3. Medical Care: Work comp will pay for all your medical expenses accrued from the injury treatment and travel expenses to get the treatment.

Get Help Today!

If you suffered a work-related injury, our work comp attorneys at Waple and Houk could help you get the appropriate benefit. We will painstakingly examine your medical records to know the types of injury you suffered and get you the maximum compensation. Good timing is essential in work comp cases, so call us today for a free case review.