THE SIX TYPES OF WORKERS’ COMP BENEFIT
New York’s Workers’ Compensation Law provides six different types of money benefit, as well as medical treatment. The type of money benefit that an injured worker is entitled to depends on a few factors: the duration of the disability (how long it is continuing or is expected to continue), the extent of the disability (how much or how little the person is able to do), and the nature of the injury (what body part is involved).
Temporary total disability benefits are usually paid immediately after an injury when someone is not able to do any work at all for a period of weeks or months. It’s important to know that the test for “total” disability in the workers’ compensation system is the inability to do any work of any kind – not just your job, but any job at all.
Temporary partial disability benefits are paid when someone cannot go back to their job, but is physically capable of doing some sort of work. The amount of these benefits depends on the level of the disability, and they are payable until the person reaches “maximum medical improvement.”
There are two kinds of permanent partial disability benefits. If the injury involves a limb, then the benefit is called a “schedule loss award.” When a schedule loss award is made, the worker may get a money award if they are back to work. However, if the injury can be given a schedule loss award, no payments are made for lost wages after that.
The other kind of permanent partial disability is where the injury does not involve a limb, the person cannot go back to their job, but they are physically capable of doing some type of work. In these cases benefits are payable for a set number of weeks depending on the level of the disability.
Permanent total disability benefits are paid to workers who are not able to do any work of any kind, forever. Death benefits are paid to the surviving spouse, minor children, and other dependents of workers who are killed on the job or whose work-related injuries contribute to their death later on