Work injuries are those that occur while performing high-risk or common work due to negligent exposure at your workplace, and are eligible to claim workers' compensation benefits, regardless of location.
However, some work injuries are not automatically solid to be considered within obtaining this type of benefits. If you have doubts about whether it applies to your case, contact us. At Conexión Legal we can provide you with free legal advice, and if applicable, safe and transparent representation with top-level work injury attorneys before the Court.
Eligible and Non-Eligible Injuries
Among the injuries not eligible for workers' compensation claims are idiopathic injuries which, if you are not familiar with the term, are probably not what you think they are.
An idiopathic injury refers to any injury that occurs spontaneously and does not have an immediately known cause. In general, insurance companies may consider any injury that is not caused by work or the work environment as idiopathic, even if the injury occurred in a work environment.
Many conditions and diseases, regardless of whether they have been previously diagnosed or not, could cause a rejection for idiopathic injury of the workers' compensation benefits claim.
Some of the common types of injuries that could occur physically at work, but are not caused by work and could be considered idiopathic, are:
- Seizure.
- Heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular event.
- Fainting.
- Diabetic event.
- Aneurysm.
- Bone fracture without trauma.
Each workers' compensation claim is unique, so it is difficult to know whether an insurer will reject a claim using the idiopathic injury argument. Even if the idiopathic injury itself is not compensable, work injuries that occurred due to the idiopathic injury could be.
If a worker, for example, experiences a seizure, and hits his head on a desk, the seizure itself may not be eligible for benefits, but the head injury could be eligible.
In order for you to obtain compensation, you must prove that your injury occurred at your workplace, and for that you will need a free legal consultation from Conexión Legal, so the best course of action is to contact us as soon as possible.
You could obtain Temporary Incapacity Benefits (TIBs) if your work-related injury or illness causes you to lose all or part of your wages for more than seven days. If you have more than one job, you may obtain TIBs if you lose all or part of wages from other employers.
TIBs are 70% of the difference between your average weekly wage and the money you can earn after your work-related injury. Your average weekly wage is the average amount of money your employer reported that you received each week from your work before suffering the injury.
After you are injured, your doctor may allow you to return to work with modified duties. This could include changes made to your regular work activities, or different work assignments.
You may still be entitled to receive TIBs if your employer provides you with modified work and your salary has been reduced.
TIBs begin once your injury or illness causes you to lose eight days of work. Benefits are not paid for the first week unless your injury causes you to lose all or part of your pay (incapacity) for 14 days or more.
In workers' compensation, incapacity does not mean physical disability. Incapacity means that your injury does not allow you to earn money.
Please note that TIBs end when: a medical services provider determines that you have already reached all that is expected of you to heal or recover from your injury (maximum medical improvement), you can earn the average amount of money your employer reported that you received each week from your work before suffering the injury (average weekly wage), or you reach the end of your TIBs benefits period, which is 104 weeks after the eighth day of work-related incapacity.
At Conexión Legal we can connect you with the best work accident attorneys available to help you with any situation in which you need legal advice without needing to put a single dollar out of your pocket.
This will help you understand your case and subsequently access legal representation if you wish. Contact us by calling 1800 201 1220 or write to us via WhatsApp to receive the timely and effective legal advice you need.
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