WORKER'S COMPENSATION

Under the worker's compensation insurance system, insurers contractually agree to fulfill the legal obligation of employers to provide worker's compensation benefits to injured workers. An employee can be injured by an on-the-job accident or by disease or other impairment, which was contracted by on-the-job exposure. There are several kinds of benefits payable to injured employees or in some cases, their families, and the principal benefits in Wisconsin are:

•  Medical Benefits – There is full, complete and unlimited coverage of all bills for medical treatment and for hospital services provided to injured workers.

•  Indemnity Benefits – There are weekly cash payments to workers intended to partially replace lost income. In Wisconsin , there are several different kinds of payments that make up indemnity benefits. The principal kinds are:

•  Temporary Total- Currently, two-thirds of an employee's earnings, subject to a maximum, is paid to injured workers until they recover from work-related injuries and return to work.

•  Permanent Total- Injured workers who are 100% disabled due to a work-related injury are entitled to receive two-thirds of their earnings, subject to a maximum weekly amount for the remainder of their lives.

•  Permanent Partial- Workers who sustain permanent partial disability receive supplementary compensation in addition to tow-thirds of earnings, subject to a current maximum for a specified number of weeks related to the degree of disability. For example, a worker who suffers the loss of a leg at the hip joint receives 500 weeks of permanent partial payments. Correspondingly, if the worker loses a little toe at the second joint or distal joint, only 4 weeks of permanent partial payments are received.

•  Death Benefit- There are several benefits payable when an employee is fatally injured dependent upon the worker's family status at the time of death. A maximum burial expense is also payable.

•  Vocational Rehabilitation- The cost of rehabilitation is fully covered and the injured worker is also entitled to weekly indemnity payments during the rehabilitation period.