Construction Accidents and Workers’ Compensation

If you have been injured on a construction site, depending on your employment situation and the extent to which your employer is responsible for your injuries, you may be eligible to collect workers’ compensation benefits. Workers’ compensation is a special type of benefit to which an injured worker is entitled, including lost wages and medical expenses. It is like a safety net for workers when they are injured while on the job. The law requires every business to have workers' compensation insurance to cover its employees in the event of construction accidents.

Under a workers' compensation program, an injured worker is entitled to:

Medical Care: The injured has the right to receive compensation for all medical treatment to help cure the effects of the work-related illness or injury. This may include compensation for medical bills, prescriptions and even round-trip mileage to the hospital.

Temporary Disability: In the event that the injured party must take time away from work due to medical reasons, he or she is entitled to temporary disability payments. The injured is entitled to receive two-thirds of average weekly gross pay every two weeks.

Permanent Disability: If the injured worker is permanently disabled as a result of the injuries, workers' compensation may also cover permanent disability payments. The amount and rate usually depend on how much limitation the injury has placed on activities of the injured as well as his or her age, occupation and earnings at the time of injury.

Vocational Rehabilitation: If the injury prevents the injured to return to his or her former job, vocational rehabilitation offers assistance in finding and training for a new job.