Will I be getting anything?

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cubs0126

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A 700 lb. machine recently fell over on me at work while I was installing it, causing a deltoid contusion, tendinitis and fluid buildup on my left shoulder. I'm currently in physical therapy for the pain and inflammation. Since the injury, I've no longer been able to play golf and have even had trouble putting a shirt on in the morning. I still attend work everyday, as I'm a supervisor and typically don't do any heavy lifting. Will Workers Compensation offer some sort of pain and suffering settlement after the injury is healed? Thanks.

Ted
 
Workers Comp law was designed to be no fault in exchanger for no payment for 'pain and suffering'. What this means is that workers comp will pay for your injury at work even if you did something stupid that was your fault (in 99.9% of the cases) in return for which you can not get payment for pain and suffering unless the pain interferes with your ability to do your job.

That your workplace injury may have impacted on your private life is not taken into account.

For example, if you played the piano for your church choir as a volunteer but after your accident could not, you get nothing. But if you did get paid for each performance, i.e. $50 each Sunday and $20 for practices, that could add a little something to your comp award.

In New York, we have something called a 'scheduled loss of use' which are cases that have a specific range of awards, based on body part and degree of loss of function or amputation, even if it does not currently effect your earnings. Only a lawyer familiar with the workers compensation laws of your state could help you with that.
 
Thanks for the response. I'm a supervisor at work and haven't missed any work due to the injury because I just sit at a desk all day. But now it seems that I may require athroscopic surgery to determine why it isn't healing. If a surgery is needed to repair my shoulder, am I to understand that I STILL wouldn't receive any pain and suffering settlement. That doesn't seem right.
 
Since the system is a no-fault system, in exchange for not having to prove who is at fault, the legislation was designed to eliminate 'pain and suffering'.

However, even if you do not loose time from work, you cold have what is called a Scheduled Loss of Use (SLU). In layman's terms, this means that if you permanently loose 20% of the use of your shoulder as the result of the work injury, you can get an award based on a formula using that percentage of loss, your average weekly wage (in your case to a maximum of $400 a week) and a figure taken from a chart for the number of weeks equal to 100% loss of the site of injury; for a should that is 288 weeks of awards.

This is the closest you can get to a 'pain and suffering' award. But an SLU can only be considered after your shoulder has stabilized. Also the final award to you takes into account any money you may have already been paid in terms of compensation and several other factors. These are sufficiently complex that if you want to consider a SLU, you need a lawyer who specializes in workers compensation or a licensed rep. If you do not have either of these and do not know of any, call the Workers Comp Board (877-632-4996) for a list in your area or go to their web site for lists http://www.wcb.state.ny.us/content/main/Reps/Representatives.jsp.
 
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