Learn about the several types of workers’ compensation benefits available in Ohio, how the state determines the amount of those payments, and if you qualify for benefits if you were diagnosed with COVID-19 on the job.
Workers’ compensation in Wisconsin provides essential benefits to employees who suffer work-related injuries or illnesses. Medical care, weekly payments to assist offset wages lost as a consequence of your accident, vocational rehabilitation, and other benefits are available. To get these benefits, you must disclose your accident to your employer within 30 days of the injury (or when you know or should have known that your disability is connected to your employment) and submit a workers’ compensation claim.
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Can You Get COVID-19 Workers’ Comp Benefits in Wisconsin?
If you contracted COVID-19 on the job, you may be eligible for workers’ compensation payments. In general, you would require documentation indicating that you became ill because you were exposed to the coronavirus while working, rather than throughout your life. When the virus is common in the population, this may be a challenging condition for most workers to satisfy.
However, obtaining COVID-19 while working as a medical or emergency first responder during the pandemic would make it simpler to apply for workers’ compensation payments in Wisconsin. A modification in state law that takes effect in April 2020 will infer that you have a work-related illness if you were diagnosed with the condition or tested positive while the Wisconsin public health emergency is in place, as well as throughout the 30-day period after the conclusion of the state of emergency. Because of this assumption, you will not have to establish that you were exposed to the virus at work; instead, it will be up to your employer (or its insurance carrier) to oppose your claim with specific proof that your sickness was caused by exposure outside of work.
Employees or volunteers for organizations that offer medical or other emergency services, firefighting, or law enforcement are considered first responders under the new legislation if they are routinely in close proximity to COVID-19 patients or other members of the public who need emergency assistance. (For further information on workers’ compensation for COVID-19 in Wisconsin, visit the state’s Department of Workforce Development’s FAQs.)
Wisconsin Temporary Disability Benefits
While you are healing from your injuries, you will be granted temporary disability payments. You may be entitled to temporary total disability (TTD) or temporary partial disability (TPD) (TPD). These benefits are not paid in Wisconsin for the first three days off work unless your disability lasts longer than seven days.
Total Temporary Disability
You may be eligible for temporary total disability (TTD) compensation while:
You are unable to do any sort of job while recuperating from a workplace accident or illness, or you might return to limited employment but have not been given work that accommodates such limits.
These benefits are computed at two-thirds of your typical weekly pay prior to your accident, up to an annual maximum. The highest TTD benefit for 2020 is $1,051 (two-thirds of the maximum weekly pay of $1,576.50, which is 110% of the statewide average weekly income).
TTD payments continue until you return to work or your doctor declares that you have attained “maximum medical improvement” (MMI), which implies that medical therapy will not improve your health any further.
Partial Disability on a Temporary Basis
If you are able to return to work but cannot earn as much as you did before the accident or sickness, you may be eligible for temporary partial disability (TPD) payments. These benefits will be worth two-thirds of the difference between your pre-injury and post-injury earnings; however, pre-injury wages are subject to the same ceiling as TTD payments. For instance, if you used to make $1,000 per week but can now only earn $700, you would get $200 in TPD benefits (two-thirds of $300).
Wisconsin Perma
nent Partial Disability Benefits
Once you’ve achieved MMI, your doctor will examine you and determine if you have any lasting impairments as a consequence of your workplace accident or sickness. In most situations, any lifelong handicap will be just partial. In this instance, you will be assigned a permanent impairment rating (expressed as a percentage of lost body function).
Although the amount of permanent partial disability (PPD) payments in Wisconsin is determined as two-thirds of your average weekly wages, the maximum is substantially lower than the maximum for temporary disability, and it is not increased every year. The state’s maximum PPD compensation rate is $362 per week for injuries that occurred between 2017 and at least 2020.
Even if you return to work, you will continue to receive PPD benefits depending on your physical restrictions. If you are unable to earn at least 85% of your pre-injury earnings, your award may be increased to account for your lost earning ability.
The duration of your TTD benefits will be established in one of two ways: (1) according to a timetable for the lost use of certain body parts (scheduled loss), or (2) based on a permanent impairment rating for other lost bodily function.
Duration of Scheduled Loss of Use Permanent Partial Disability
If you have entirely lost use of a bodily part listed on Wisconsin’s PPD schedule, you will be eligible for benefits for the number of weeks stated on that schedule. The schedule mostly addresses extremities (arms, legs, hands, feet, fingers, and toes), but it also addresses eye removal or loss of eyesight, as well as deafness. If you have an impairment to your dominant hand or numerous body parts indicated on the timetable, the number of weeks will be doubled by a set amount.
If you suffer a partial loss of a specified bodily component, the advantages will be extended proportionally. For example, if you lost 50% of your hand’s usage, the advantages will endure for half the maximum of 200 weeks in the plan, or 200 weeks. If it was your dominant hand, the time frame will be extended by 25%, for a total of 250 weeks.
Permanent Partial Disability for Unscheduled Impairment
If you have a permanent partial handicap that isn’t included on Wisconsin’s schedule (for example, to your lungs or back), the length of your benefits will be a percentage of 1,000 weeks depending on your permanent impairment rating. For example, if you suffered a back injury and received a 15% permanent disability rating, you would be eligible for PPD payments for 150 weeks (1,000 x 0.15).
Permanent Disfigurement Compensation
If your injury caused permanent disfigurement to a part of your body that would be visible at work and could potentially result in wage loss, Wisconsin’s Workers’ Compensation Division may award you any amount of permanent disability that it deems fair, taking into account several factors such as your age, education, training, previous experience, and occupation.
Benefits for Permanent Total Disability
If your working accident or sickness prohibits you from doing any sort of employment, you are entitled to permanent complete disability compensation. Certain injuries are believed to be entirely and permanently disabled (for example, loss of both eyes, limbs, or legs). Other major injuries may also be eligible. The payments are paid at the same rate as TTD benefits for as long as you are fully incapacitated (possibly for life).
Other Wisconsin Workers’ Compensation Benefits
Wisconsin workers’ compensation offers other benefits in addition to temporary and permanent disability payments, such as:
Medical attention. Workers’ compensation will pay for any reasonable and necessary medical expenditures linked to your job-related accident or sickness, including physical rehabilitation, even if you haven’t missed any work and haven’t been disabled. Once you’ve provided notice of your injuries in Wisconsin, you have the opportunity to choose the licensed health care professional who will deliver this treatment. You also have the right to a second supplier if you are dissatisfied with the first.
Travel to a medical facility for treatment. You may be compensated for reasonable travel costs incurred while seeking medical care.
Rehabilitation for the workforce. If performing the same job you did before your disability is difficult or impossible, you may be qualified for vocational rehabilitation. Career counseling, job placement, and up to 80 weeks of retraining are all possible services. You may be eligible for TTD benefits while doing this course.
Benefits upon death. If an employee dies as a direct consequence of a work-related accident or sickness, Wisconsin workers’ compensation will pay the surviving spouse a death benefit up to a yearly limit. (The monthly maximum for 2020 was $4,554.33, with a total limit of $315,300.) The state will additionally give an additional death benefit to surviving dependent children under the age of 18 or who are incompetent. If there is no surviving spouse, other living relatives may be eligible for death payments based on their degree of financial reliance on the employee. Workers’ compensation will also cover the deceased’s employment.
Funeral costs. Wisconsin workers’ compensation will also cover the actual cost of burial an employee who dies as a result of a work-related accident or sickness, up to a limit of $10,000.
Benefits on Death
If a worker dies as a consequence of an accident or sickness, his or her dependents may be eligible for death benefits. Death benefits might be up to four times the yearly pay of the worker (subject to a maximum benefit). Furthermore, the insurance company must pay up to $10,000 in appropriate funeral and burial costs for the worker.
Obtaining Assistance in Collecting Workers’ Compensation Benefits
If your employer’s insurance company has denied your workers’ compensation claim or is refusing to pay the benefits you believe you are entitled to, you should contact an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer. A local attorney with competence in this area should be able to analyze your claim and guarantee that you obtain all of the advantages that Wisconsin law entitles you to. If you are also receiving Social Security disability payments, a lawyer can explain any possible decrease in your benefits.