As with any injury claim, valuation of a Workers' Compensation case involves looking at the elements of the claim for which compensation is payable under Georgia law, in the light of the subjective considerations of the particular client's case. In Workers' Compensation, instead of categories of damages, like special and general damages, the specific elements of the claim are instead the categories of benefits payable to the Employee/Claimant under the statutes and Board Rules creating the Georgia Workers' Compensation system, found at O.C.G.A. Sec. 34-9-1, et seq.
In order to know how much your claim could be worth, you must first understand the different types of benefits that are allotted or work injury victims. There are several different categories of benefits payable including:
Temporary Total Disability Benefits- This category of benefits means that you are eligible to receive compensation as long as you remain too impaired to perform your work-related duties. These benefits can help you pay your bills during your recovery period.
Temporary Partial Disability Benefits- These benefits are paid to people as a weekly wage for no longer that 350 weeks. The amount of benefits should be equal to 2/3 of difference between how much you earned weekly prior to the injury and how much you could earn now. Typically, injury victims are not allotted more than $334.00 a week.
Permanent Partial Disability Benefits- PPD benefits are intended to compensate injury victims for the loss of use of a body part, amputation, paralysis and things of that nature. The amount that victims receive will all depend on the percentage of their body that they loss use of and which body part(s) was injured.
Medical Benefits- Future medical care is very important for work injury victims. In order to assess how much future medical care will be necessary, you must have a firm understanding of the medical condition that the victim has. If their injury required long-term care over the course of their lifetime, medical benefits may become necessary.
Vocational Rehabilitation Benefits- This category of benefits deals with vocational testing and/or education to find a new occupation that the injured victims can perform. The vocation test will determine how much they are physically and mentally able to do and what type of work would best fit their capabilities.
The categories of benefits that you will receive will all depend on how severe your work injuries are and whether or not your injuries are permanently disabling. Our Atlanta workers’ compensation attorney has extensive experience in this area and he could assess the damages in your case and inform you of the benefits that you qualify for. Attorney Kaleita proudly serves injured workers in Atlanta and all throughout Northern Georgia. Call us today for a free case evaluation!