Types of Workers' Compensation Benefits
Medical Benefits
When you are injured at work, your employer is liable for the medical care to treat the injury - not just doctor bills, but also medication, hospital costs, fees for lab tests, x-rays, crutches and so forth. There is no deductible and all costs for reasonably necessary services are paid directly to the provider by the employer's insurance company or the self-insured employer.
Temporary Total Disability Benefits
If your injury causes you to miss work for two weeks or longer, you are entitled to receive temporary total disability benefits during the time you are off work. These benefits are due while you are in the healing period and unable to work. The temporary total disability rate is 66.66% of your average weekly wage on the date of injury. The rate is also subject to a cap which is the rate based upon the average wages paid to all employees in Arkansas. Frequently, workers' compensation insurance carriers have been known to incorrectly calculate an injured worker's average weekly wage, leaving the worker with fewer benefits per week than they are owed. If you have any questions about how your average weekly wage was calculated, please contact us.
Permanent Partial Disability benefits
Once your healing period has ended and your doctor says you are as good as you are going to get, the doctor may assign a permanent impairment rating, signifying that you have sustained a permanent injury. Many body parts, including arms, hands, legs, and feet, are considered to be "scheduled" body parts, meaning that the law contains a list of how many weeks of benefits the total loss of that body part is worth. This schedule is used in conjunction with your impairment rating to calculate how many weeks of permanent partial disability benefits you are entitled to. For example, under the schedule, the total loss of a hand is worth 183 weeks of benefits. If you injured your hand and your doctor assigned a 10% permanent impairment rating, you would be entitled to 10% of 183 weeks, which is 18.3 weeks of benefits. The amount of your weekly permanent partial disability benefits is usually 75% of the amount of your temporary total disability benefits (described above).
If your injury is to a body part that is not on the schedule, such as your back or neck, the impairment rating will be calculated for your body as a whole. Your benefits are then calculated as a percentage of 450 weeks. The weekly rate of your benefits is calculated the same as for a scheduled injury.
Permanent and total disability benefits.
If your injury is severe enough, it may completely prevent you from earning meaningful wages in the same or other employment. If this is found to be the case, you are entitled to permanent and total disability benefits. Certain specific injuries-- including the loss of both hands, arms, legs, eyes, or a combination of any two of these-- are explicitly deemed by statute to result in permanent and total disability. However, in most cases, the question of whether a worker is permanently and totally disabled is decided by the Workers' Compensation Commission, which takes into account the worker's age, education, work experience, and other factors. If you are found to be permanently and totally disabled, you will receive the amount of your temporary total disability benefits for as long as you continue to be disabled, up to a dollar-amount cap set by the Commission every year ($214,825 in 2017).