Generally, in order to get wage loss benefits BEYOND the 500 week limit, a worker injured in the Commonwealth has to have lost 2 arms, 2 legs, 2 hands, 2 eyes, 2 feet, etc., in the same workplace accident. In a recent appeal to the Virginia Court of Appeals, an employer’s argument that the Virginia
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Can a worker whose fingers or toes are amputated because he or she could not read a machine’s instructions get workers’ compensation benefits? In workers’ comp cases, employers or their insurance company can win on the defense of “willful violation of a safety rule” only if they show the employee intended to break a known
Continue readingThe National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), which studies workers’ compensation and other benefits systems, last August reported that in 2012: workers’ compensation benefits rose by 1.3 percent to $61.9 billion employer costs rose by 6.9 percent to $83.2 billion. The uptick, NASI said, was due to increased employment. “This growth in workers’ compensation spending
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The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) is an insurance company-funded organization which, for years, has been reporting that doctors in the Maryland workers’ comp system were dispensing 40% of all workers’ comp prescriptions, and were capturing 55% of all dollars paid for these prescriptions. This, according to WCRI, was driving up costs in the workers’
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While the Virginia Workers’ Compensation law does not require an injured worker to show negligence or fault, it is not a complete no-fault system. An injured worker in the Commonwealth does not have to show that someone else is to blame for his or her disability from work, but not every single workplace accident is
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