What’s Included in Your Workers’ Comp Benefits?
Mitchell K. Byrd, Jr. | Attorney
If you’re injured in an accident or develop a repetitive injury or occupational disease during the course of work, you’re entitled to workers’ compensation benefits in South Carolina. Depending on the nature of your injury or illness, you are entitled to different types of compensation under the law. Here’s a list of the benefits you may have a right to under workers’ comp.
What Can Be Included in Workers’ Comp Benefits?
Lost Wages
In South Carolina, you may receive money for lost wages at a rate of 66⅔% of your average weekly wage up to a maximum amount. The maximum increases every year; for 2021, that amount is $903.40 a week.
However, you’re only eligible for lost wages if you miss more than seven days of work due to your injury or illness. Most of the time, a medical excuse or note from a doctor writing you out of work is required.
Medical Expenses
Medical expenses related to your injury or illness are covered by workers’ compensation. This includes hospital expenses, doctor’s fees, and prescription drugs. It can also reimburse you for some of your travel to the doctor, hospital, or pharmacy at the South Carolina state employee mileage rate, which is $0.56/mile as of January 1, 2021. It’s important to know that you must go to a doctor selected by your employer’s insurance company. If you get treatment from your own doctor, don’t necessarily expect it to be covered by workers’ comp.
Disability and Disfigurement
South Carolina workers’ comp compensates workers for partial disability, total disability, and disfigurement resulting from the covered accident. The rates are set in the South Carolina code. Someone who is paraplegic, quadriplegic, or has physical brain damage – is entitled to benefits for life at the same rate as lost wages, described above. Someone who has suffered total or partial disability or disfigurement will be eligible to receive benefits for a set number of weeks, depending on the severity of the disability or disfigurement, up to a maximum of 500.
Death Benefits
Workers’ comp also pays out death benefits to the dependents of a worker who has died on the job. The dependents have two years to make a claim for the benefits, which are paid at the rate of 66⅔% of the worker’s average weekly wage for a maximum of 500 weeks.
Not covered: Noneconomic Damages and Punitive Damages
In personal injury cases, the injured party can sue for pain and suffering and other similar noneconomic damages. Those are not covered by workers’ compensation (other than those covering disability and disfigurement, discussed above). Similarly, punitive damages, which are intended to punish the wrongdoer, are also not part of workers’ comp.
Schedule a Consultation with the Workers’ Comp Attorneys at The Carolina Law Group
The experienced workers’ compensation attorneys at The Carolina Law Group are here to help you with your workers’ comp claim, no matter what stage you’re at, to ensure you get the compensation you’re entitled to. We’re ready to help, so call us today at one of the numbers below to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation.
The Carolina Law Group has four offices in South Carolina for your convenience: Greenville (principal office; call 864.312.4444), Greer (principal office; call 864.757.5555), Spartanburg (principal office; call 864.757.5555), and West Columbia (principal office; call 803.881.1110).
Call us at one of our four offices or contact us online to schedule your free consultation with one of our attorneys. Our business hours are Monday – Thursday 8:30am – 5:30pm & Friday 8:30 am – 5 pm. Weekend and evening hours by appointment only. Our Greenville, SC law firm offers Spanish, Hindi, and Gujarati language translation services for your convenience.