What Is Workers’ Compensation?

If you are injured while performing your job duties at work, you may be eligible to receive financial compensation known as workers’ compensation. Workers’ compensation is a form of insurance that compensates an injured worker for a portion of lost wages and medical care. Workers’ compensation works as a no-fault form of remedy, which means that it provides coverage to an injured worker regardless of an employer’s liability.
Who Is Entitled to Workers’ Compensation Benefits?
Under South Carolina’s Workers’ Compensation Act, “employees” are the only workers entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. Employees include full-time and part-time workers, adults and minors, and others who have been hired to do certain jobs. To determine whether an individual is an employee of an employer, South Carolina’s Workers’ Compensation Commission will inquire into the degree of control that an employer exercises over a worker.
Workers classified as independent contractors are not entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. It is important to recognize, however, that employers often misclassify workers as independent contractors to avoid having to pay benefits. Every worker has the right to challenge one’s classification as an independent contractor before the South Carolina’s Workers’ Compensation Commission.
What Type of Compensation is Recoverable? 
Workers’ compensation benefits allow an injured worker to receive payment for necessary medical treatment, loss of wages during the disability, and compensation for permanent disability or disfigurement. Generally, workers’ compensation will pay for an injured worker’s surgery, hospitalization, medical supplies, prosthetic devices, and prescriptions. Importantly, however, an injured worker cannot choose any medical provider or doctor they want to see. Rather, the injured worker must go to the doctor or medical provider chosen by the employer or the employer’s insurance carrier.
If a worker is unable to return to work for at least seven days then the worker may receive payments for lost wages. These payments, however, do not require payment of wages that a worker would have received had the worker been at work. Instead, lost wage payments are limited to 66 2/3 percent of one’s average weekly wage based on the four quarters prior to the injury. The payments cannot exceed the maximum average weekly wage determined each year by the state.
Contact a Greenville Workers’ Compensation Attorney
If you have suffered an injury at work, a Greenville workers’ compensation attorney can help protect your rights. If your employer does not report your accident, denies your injury by accident, or if you believe you did not receive all of your benefits, then you are entitled to file a claim with the South Carolina’s Workers’ Compensation Commission. An experienced Greenville workers’ compensation can help you with this process to make sure that you receive the compensation you deserve.
David R. Price, Jr., is a Greenville workers’ compensation attorney who has extensive experience helping injured workers to obtain compensation for their injuries. Contact David R. Price, Jr., for a free initial consultation and case evaluation. You can call us today at 864.271.2636 or visit our office at 318 West Stone Avenue in Greenville. ​​