There are several different ways workers’ compensation benefits can help workers through the difficulties following a workplace injury or illness. It is important for injured workers in Minnesota to know what the different types of workers’ compensation benefits are so they know how they can help them when they have been injured at work.
There are several different types of benefits available to injured workers through workers’ compensation benefits. Each benefit is designed to help injured workers through the difficult time that follows a workplace accident.
Workers’ compensation benefits include:
- Medical Benefits: Injured workers can receive benefits to help them with the medical care they need for their injuries suffered at work. Injured workers can receive workers’ compensation benefits to help offset the costs of their medical care including medical treatment and supplies required to treat their injury including necessary travel expenses.
- Wage Loss Benefits: Injured workers can receive benefits to help them with their lost wages. Wage loss benefits are based on income loss due to disability based on the nature of the disability the injured worker suffered whether it was temporary or permanent or partial or total.
- Vocational Rehabilitation Benefits: Injured workers can receive vocational rehabilitation benefits if they are unable to return to their current job or if they need modifications to return to their current job.
- Death Benefits: Surviving family members, including spouses and dependents, may be able to receive death benefits, including funeral costs, when a loved one dies in a fatal workplace accident or as the result of an occupational illness. Vocational rehabilitation benefits may also be available to a surviving spouse who needs training to become self-supporting following the loss of their loved one in a fatal workplace accident.
A variety of different benefits are available to support injured workers and their families following a workplace accident. As a result, injured workers and their families need to be familiar with these benefits and how to obtain them when they have been hurt on-the-job.