Protecting your rights. Preserving your future.

Disability benefits take into account an injured workers’ wages lost while recovering from the initial accident, as well as its effect on future earning potential. The law provides a very specific formula for determining the amount of compensation, which hinges on the worker’s Average Weekly Wage (AWW). Correctly calculating the AWW is critical to obtaining fair compensation. Benefits are based on the following categories of disability:

• Temporary Total Disability (TTD)
• Temporary Partial Disability (TPD)
• Permanent Partial Disability (PPD)
• Permanent Total Disability (PTD)

Temporary Total Disability benefits are administered when you are unable to work while recovering from your work-related accident. These benefits  are equal to two-thirds of your average weekly wage at the time of the injury or illness, with predetermined maximums and minimums. If you are written completely out of work, you are entitled to receive temporary total disability; if you are assigned work restrictions by your doctor, and your employer is unable to accommodate them or provide a light duty job, then you are also entitled to temporary total disability benefits.

Temporary Partial Disability benefits, also called “wage differential,” are administered when you are able to return to work, but are unable to function at the same capacity as before the accident. They are equal to two-thirds of the difference between your pre-injury AWW and your post-injury reduced weekly earnings.

Permanent Partial Disability benefits are awarded when you have recovered from your injury as much as possible–referred to as “maximum medical improvement”– but a certain degree of permanent restriction or disability remains. This designation is determined by a doctor’s professional opinion of your MMI, and the amount of compensation determined by the body part affected.

Permanent Total Disability benefits are awarded at the same rate as TTD benefits if you have suffered any of the following extreme injuries:

• Loss of both eyes, hands, arms, feet, or legs (or a combination of any two)
• Spinal injury that results in permanent paralysis of both arms, legs, or the torso
• Second- or third-degree burns to a third or more of your body
• Traumatic brain injury

North Carolina workers’ compensation law mandates that the injured individual’s employer’s insurance company cover all medical treatment given to cure or lessen injury, pain, and disability. The individual does not have to miss work to receive these benefits, and cannot be required to pay any deductible or co-pay. Reasonable travel expenses associated with obtaining such treatment are also covered. Medical benefits also include ongoing care, such as physical therapy.

If you’ve experienced a serious injury on the job, your employer and its insurance company have the right to select which physicians treat you for your workers’ comp claim. This can create complications and dissatisfaction on the part of the employee. However, you have the right to request a different physician from the North Carolina Industrial Commission. They have the authority to change your doctor when deemed necessary and appropriate, and capable workers’ compensation attorneys can assist you with this task.

Under the North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Act, wage loss benefits are paid out in the amount of two-thirds of the injured worker’s average weekly wage. This is calculated by determining how much the worker earned before taxes during the 1-year period prior to the accident, and dividing that amount by 52 weeks. This amount is not taxable by the state or federal government.

Wage loss benefits can be claimed if you are out of work longer than seven days. If you are out of work more than twenty-one days, you can also receive compensation for the first seven.

North Carolina awards disfigurement and scarring benefits to individuals at the discretion of the NCIC. To qualify for these payments, the disfigurement must be serious, permanent, observable, and affect your ability to earn wages. Some examples of this would be permanent scarring over a large area of the body that is outwardly observable, serious facial or head disfigurement, or enucleation of an eye where an artificial eye cannot be fitted and used.

However, not all disfigurement and scarring is covered, if the disfigurement resulted in the loss of the use of a body part for which the injured worker has already claimed compensation. For example, if an individual claimed partial disability benefits for the loss of a leg, he could not also claim disfigurement benefits for the leg. In other words, you cannot “double dip.”

If you are able to return to work after an injury but at less than 75% of your pre-injury wages, you may qualify for vocational rehabilitation benefits. These services are designed to help injured workers obtain suitable employment. They may include skills assessments, education and retraining, and counseling and assistance obtaining a new job.

North Carolina Workers’ Compensation insurance does provide for death benefits, in the tragic event that your loved one died due to a workplace injury or illness acquired in the course of employment. However, you must file the claim within six years of the date of injury or onset of disability, or within two years of the final determination of disability.

Notably, the workplace injury or illness does not have to be the sole cause of death, so long as it contributed to the worker’s demise or aggravated a preexisting condition which then lead to death.

Wrongful death benefits are paid to dependent children and the deceased’s surviving spouse in the amount of two-thirds of what the worker was earning at the time of the accident. These benefits also cover funeral and burial expenses up to $10,000.