Worker's compensation is a form of insurance that provides financial compensation and medical benefits to employees who have been injured on the job. The acceptance of worker's compensation eliminates the employee's right to sue the employer for circumstances that led up to the injury. Worker's compensation coverage varies from area to area and employer to employer. Compensation may be made to the employee in the form of weekly or monthly payments and may cover past and future lost wages. These benefits might also be payable to the families of workers who have been killed on the job.
Each state has its own worker's compensation laws. The worker's compensation laws are liability laws and the fault or negligence of the employer does not have to be proven in order for an employee to receive worker's compensation benefits. Regardless of the cause of the injury or what led up to it, if the injury happened on the job the employee is eligible to receive these benefits.
In some cases, an employee's collection of worker's compensation benefits may have an impact on their Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). In some situations, worker's compensation payments may cause an offset of Social Security Disability payments. If, however, you are able to structure your worker's compensation benefits as a structured payout, the benefits may not have as much of an effect on your compensation offset, if it has any effect at all.
If you live in a state that finds that a total disability of an individual warrants an enhancement of worker's compensation benefits, your approval of Social Security Disability payments may actually increase your worker's compensation benefits. If you are receiving worker's compensation payments and plan on applying for Social Security Disability benefits, you may want to consult with a qualified Social Security Disability attorney. He or she will be able to advise you as to how your receipt of worker's compensation payments will affect your Social Security Disability benefits and how being determined disabled by the SSA will affect your worker's compensation payout.
