Your work accident-related medical bills should be submitted directly to your workers compensation insurance company.  Those bills should be paid by the workers compensation company, not your primary health insurer.

Total Temporary Disability benefits (commonly referred to as TTD) is paid on a weekly basis while you are off work due to a work injury.  It is valued at 2/3 your average weekly wage, before tax.  The average is generally calculated by average the 52 weeks immediately prior to your injury date.  It can also be calculated based on you hourly wage.  For example, if your average weekly wage for the 52 weeks prior to your injury was $520.00, your TTD benefit, would be $346.67 per week (2/3 of $520).  This is a general rule.  There may be some rare cases when a different calculation is appropriate.  In those cases

Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) is assessed by your doctor after your healing is complete and you have residual permanent disabilities. Permanent Partial Disability payments (commonly referred to PPD) are calculated base on a schedule of injuries and the benefit rate as of the date of the injury.  That schedule can be found in Chapter 102 of the Wisconsin Statutes, under §102.52.  For example, the schedule determines that an employee’s loss of their arm at the shoulder is valued at 500 weeks of benefit.  An injury which occurs in 2010 would have a benefit rate of $282 per week.  Therefore, the value of a claim for loss of an arm at the shoulder would have a value of $141,000.00 paid over the course of 500 weeks (about 10 years).  If, however, the employee suffered an injury to their shoulder, but it was not amputated, the doctor will set a percentage of disability.  For example, if the employee undergoes a surgery for a rotator cuff tear, the doctor will examine the employee and determine whether there is a permanent disability the Doctor could conclude the employee has 95% use of the arm, therefore it is disabled by 5%.  In such a case, the benefits are calculated by multiplying  the disability percentage (5%) by the base rate (500 weeks) and conclude the benefit of $282.00 should be paid for 25 weeks.  In that case the value of the PPD claim is $7,050.00

Injuries to parts of the body not listed in the §102.52 are called nonscheduled injuries. Typical areas considered nonscheduled are the head, neck, back, internal, etc. Nonscheduled injuries are calculated using a base-rate of 1000 weeks.  For example, an injury to an employee’s back resulting in a 10% disability would require payment of 100 weeks of benefits; under the current rate, a total claim value of $28,200.00 You also may be entitled to make a loss of earning capacity claim if you have an unscheduled injury and you can not return to your regular job due to permanent work injury limitations.

Please keep in mind that there many different situations where additional claims may be appropriate.  Some of those additional claims may involve a right to be retrained for another occupation, claims for scarring, death claims and various penalty claims.  An employee may have a claim for an employer’s wrongful refusal to rehire.  There are many more different claims.  It is always best to talk with an attorney to know YOUR rights in YOUR particular case.

Please feel free to submit your case for a FREE EVALUATION by our attorneys.