5 Unusual Rules That Might Hit Your Workers Comp Claim

8 August 2018
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The variations in workers compensation law between each state make for some interesting reading when it comes to what may or may not be covered. These 5 rules illustrate just how unusual things can get.

Capped Compensation

The state of Michigan imposes a number of caps on the compensation that workers can claim. For first-time filers, the biggest shock is often that wage loss benefits are limited to 90% of the average weekly wage in the state. Folks over 65 are also subject to a 5% yearly reduction in payments until the persona's payout is reduced to 50% overall. Insurance companies are also allowed to skip the reductions and seek an offset of 50% of any Social Security Retirement Benefits an older worker might be receiving.

Heart Attacks

In the state of North Carolina, having a heart attack at work may be compensated as a fatigue-related injury. If your job calls for strenuous labor, such as working as a roofer, and you experience a heart at the site or even after going home, there's a good chance benefits will be awarded. Conversely, a workers compensation attorney probably isn't going to be able to get someone who works in an office any money for a heart attack.

Workplace Stress

In the state of New Jersey, you may be able to get compensation for mental stresses if you can verify they were caused by your job. The state requires that you include that specific claim in your filing, and documentation such as performance reviews will be studied to determine whether there were signs of stress developing over time. The stress can even be bad enough to lead to an award for a permanent injury.

Personal Disputes

Most states offer compensation for injuries caused by personal disputes that occur in the workplace. The big hurdle for the claimant, though, is to prove they took no personal actions that led to them being injured.

Undocumented Aliens

An undocumented worker in Wyoming faces a unique system for seeking compensation due to the state's laws. If the employer can prove based on documentation that they didn't "reasonably" believe the person injured is legally allowed to work in the US, they are excluded from paying out a workers compensation insurance claim. Oddly enough, though, this approach then opens the employer up to a full civil tort claim, similar to how a personal injury case might be handled.