What Benefits are Available through the California Workers Compensation System
Available California Workers Compensation Benefits
Usually when I do a new consultation with an injured employee for the first time they are coming into the office they are concerned about their benefits. They are usually asking about what benefits they should be receiving and generally they are concerned that they’re not receiving them from their employer. Lack of good information from the employer to the employee about their benefits usually prompts them to schedule an appointment and come into my office for the free consultation that that I offer.
In the Worker’s Compensation system injured workers are not entitled to the full range of benefits that are available and that I’m civil court system like say in a personal injury case. My clients are often shocked to hear this and are concerned when they find out that Worker’s Compensation benefits are dramatically lower than those that someone would receive who has been injured by a third party in a non-industrial accident. Workers Compensation does not compensate an employee for pain and suffering. The benefits that are generally available to and injured worker in a workers compensation case are limited to medical care, temporary disability, permanent disability, and death benefits in the event of the death of the employee.
The employers liability for medical treatment exist mostly to facilitate the workers speedy recovery and to maximize his or her productive employment. The right to temporary disability indemnity benefits is intended primarily to substitute for the workers lost wages in order to maintain a steady stream of income while the employee is disabled. And permanent disability indemnity has a dual function to compensate for actual incapacity to work and for physical impairment of the workers body which may or may not being incapacitating.
State laws are created by the authority of the California Constitution the Constitution provides for a complete system of Worker’s Compensation including the delivery system made up of judicial and administrative bodies the labor code contains the state laws or statutes enacted by the legislature the California Constitution vests the legislature with the power to enforce liability against employers to compensate any or all of their workers for injury or disability and dependence for death incurred were sustained by the said workers in the course of employment.
An employer can protect himself by purchasing insurance coverage to protect its interest against liability. Usually when an injured worker reports the injury to their employer the claim is turned over to and handled by and adjuster or administrator for the insurance company.