Delaware covers workers who have been injured on the job through workers’ compensation. The benefits include medical care, temporary disability payments, and damages for permanent disabilities that stop people from working. If you have been in a workplace accident, call an attorney at Mattleman, Weinroth & Miller, P.C. to assist you through your tribulation.
If you have been in a workplace accident, seek medical attention. After you have sought and received medical attention, tell your employer. You both need to contact the workers’ compensation insurance carrier. As long as the injury was not intentional or the result of misconduct between you and a coworker, you have rights and support through worker’s compensation. Your employer must file a form called the First Report of Occupational Injury or Disease within ten days of the workplace accident. The employer will examine your average weekly wages and offer you compensation in accordance with the law. If the compensation lasts longer than three days, all agreements must be submitted to the Office of Workers’ Compensation for approval.
If you have endured a workplace injury, and it was not your fault, you are entitled to medical benefits through workers’ compensation. You have the right to all necessary treatments and hospitalization paid for by your employer or employer’s insurance carrier. In Delaware, the employee has the right to choose their physician.
Temporary Total Disability Benefits
Temporary total disability covers an injured employee for a limited time until they are well enough to return to work. These benefits go into effect on the fourth day of lost pay. If the temporary disability extends to seven days, no waiting period will apply and the full disability period becomes compensable. Most people are entitled to 66.67% of their gross weekly wages, which has been established by the Secretary of Labor.
Temporary Partial Benefits
If the employee’s injury allows them to work part-time or at a lower rate than his or her previous wage, they may be entitled to two-thirds of the difference between the previous wage and the current wage. An employee may receive temporary partial benefits for up to three hundred weeks.
Permanent Total Disability
If the workplace accident injury is permanent, then permanent total disability benefits will go into effect. Benefits are based on scheduled or unscheduled losses. Scheduled losses involve hands, fingers, arms, legs, feet, eyes, toes, and ears. Unscheduled losses involve the heart, lungs, back, etc.
Disfigurement Benefits
In Delaware, an employee may have the right to file a petition for disfigurement for any burn, scar, or amputation related to a workplace accident injury. The employee has one year to file the petition. If they are awarded the benefit, they will be paid out for a limited time, up to 150 weeks, depending on the severity of the injury.
Death Benefits
In the unfortunate case of an employee death, benefits are payable to the dependents of the worker. The amount paid will depend on the number of dependents. Damages will not exceed 80 percent of the maximum rate established by the secretary of labor. Children are deemed independent until the age of eighteen, or if a full-time student until they reach the age of twenty-five. Further benefits may be paid out if the child is disabled. The employer or insurance carrier is responsible for upwards of $3500 in funeral expenses.
In Delaware, if an employer does not abide by the rights of the employee in regards to workers’ compensation, the employee has a right to file a claim with the Office of Workers’ Compensation and will result in a hearing before the Industrial Accident Board. You have two years to file the claim of injury. Furthermore, employers are prohibited from firing or discriminating against an employee because the employee filed a claim, attempted to do so, or has testified or is about to testify in a workers’ compensation case. In the case of a workplace accident, be sure to protect yourself and your family. Attorneys at Mattleman, Weinroth & Miller, P.C. are here to assist you.