Tuesday, February 15, 2011

I was hurt at work. When can I receive workers' comp benefits?

In the event that you are injured on the job, you’re not automatically entitled to workers’ compensation benefits (other than medical treatment) for the first, second, or third day you miss work because of the injury. How many days do you have to wait before you can receive income benefits? In Georgia, a 7-day “waiting period” must elapse before an injured worker is entitled to income benefits.

Notably, the law counts all calendar days as a part of this waiting period (not just work days), and the days do NOT have to be consecutive. In other words, if you’re injured on a Monday, are out of work on Tuesday and Wednesday, return to work on Thursday, and then go out of work again on Friday, the computation of the waiting period would pick back up on Friday (Friday would be the 3rd day missed). On the 8th day missed due to your injury, your employer is required to start paying you income benefits.

So, now you've missed 7 days because of the injury and you're receiving income benefits. When do you get paid for those first 7 days you missed (the "waiting period")? The law in Georgia states that once an injured worker has missed 21 consecutive days due to his or her injury, the employer is required to retroactively pay income benefits for the first 7 days of disability after the injury.

To sum up, an injured worker must miss a total of 7 days, which don’t have to be consecutive, due to the injury before the employer is required to pay income benefits (again, medical care is provided without having to wait). Furthermore, in order to be entitled to income benefits for the first seven days of disability, the injured worker must miss 21 consecutive days.

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