Workers Compensation 101 - Know Your Rights

Workman's Compensation or Workers Compensation is the system of law meant to protect injured workers while on the job. The main aim of the law is to make sure that the injured person gets his benefits such as, medical care, lost wages relating to the on-the-job injury and, if necessary, retraining and rehabilitation, so they will be able to return to the work. In the unfortunate event that a worker is killed while on the job, the workers family is eligible for benefits. Injured workers will be benefited from consulting an attorney who can provide them information and help protect their Worker's Compensation rights.

There are some special federal laws which provide additional protection to certain classes of workers:
- The Jones Act (The Merchant Marine Act) governs the workers compensation rights of sailors and the use of foreign vessels in domestic trade.
- The Federal Employment Liability Act (FELA) is a United States federal law that protects and compensates railroaders injured while on job.
- The Longshore and Harbor Worker's Compensation Act (LHWCA) commonly referred to as the "Longshore Act" or "LHWCA" is the statutory workers' compensation scheme that covers certain maritime workers, including most dock workers and maritime workers who are not covered by the Jones Act
- The Black Lung Benefits Act (BLBA) provides monthly payments and medical benefits to coal miners totally disabled from pneumoconiosis (black lung disease) arising from employment in or around the nation's coal mines. This Act also provides monthly benefits to a miner's dependent survivors if pneumoconiosis caused or hastened the miner's death.

Many injured workers recover quickly enough that even though their initial report of injury qualifies for benefits, they have no awareness of the Worker's Compensation system. But in our experience, seriously injured workers, especially those that have a hostile employer, are the ones that have the hardest time dealing with the workers compensation system. Worker's Compensation proceedings are simpler than traditional injury litigation, as it is an administrative setting and may involve evidentiary rules. Attorney fees are ordinarily limited by law to further protect workers from any fraud of unexpected lawyer fees.

When the benefits are refused and you are forced to come to work before getting the benefit, then you need to hire a workers lawyer. If the employer sends you to a doctor who declares that you are able to return to work even though you don't believe you are able to, you should consider speaking to a lawyer as well. These situations are commonplace since some unethical employers are often afraid of lawsuits and compensation and try to talk their employees into a verbal settlement thats much lower than their true benefits.

An employee may usually not file a lawsuit against an employer for work-related injuries. There are two exceptions to this though - One, when the employer causes injury to a worker and the other is when the employer fails to carry Workers Compensation coverage. Hopefully this article gave you a basic understanding of the Workers Compensation system to protect yourself or your loved ones when needed.

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