What Determines the Value of a Workers' Comp Claim?

An injured employee can recover workers' compensation.

Workers' compensation is a type of employer-funded insurance designed to cover work-related injuries or illnesses to employees. If an employee sustains a work-related injury or illness, then the employee can file a workers' comp claim to recover compensation. The value of a worker's claim depends on the actual damages sustained by the employee. The purpose of workers' comp is to simply make an employee whole again, not to give the employee extra compensation or windfall damages.

Lost Wages

The first calculation that adds value to a workers' comp claim is the lost wages sustained by the employee because of the injury or illness. The longer an employee missed work because of the injury or illness, and the higher the employee's wage or salary, the higher the value of the workers' comp claim. Of course, because the purpose of workers' comp is to simply restore the employee to his proper condition, this means the employee only recovers lost wages for time that the employee actually lost because of the injury or illness, so the result is not a net gain for the employee.

Medical Expenses

Workers' comp also covers medical expenses incurred by the employee in order to treat and remedy the work-related illness or injury. The higher the medical expenses actually paid by the employee, the higher the workers' comp claim. Once again, though, the employee does not experience a net gain because workers' comp only reimburses for actual expenses paid by the employee.

Other Related Costs

An employee can also make a workers' comp claim on other costs related to the injury or illness. For example, if the employee incurred travel expenses for traveling to and from a hospital or doctor in order to diagnose or treat the injury or illness, then the employee can include those expenses in the workers' comp claim. These types of expenses increase the value of the workers' comp claim.

Pain and Suffering

Some state workers' compensation laws allow employees to recover pain and suffering damages under certain circumstances, such as when the injury or illness arises because of the conduct of a third party -- someone other than the employer or employee. Pain and suffering damages can significantly increase the value of a workers' comp claim, primarily because pain and suffering damages are not simply a reimbursement of expenses already incurred by the employee. Instead, as the name implies, pain and suffering damages provide monetary compensation to the employee as a way of attempting to compensate for the pain, suffering and impairment of full physical ability that the employee experiences because of the illness or injury. Because it is impossible to accurately define a precise monetary value to how much pain somebody is in, pain and suffering damages can vary and can potentially provide a significant increase to the value of a workers' comp claim.

References

• "Your Rights in the Workplace"; Barbara Repa; 2010