Ask your Lawyer

By Thomas J. Flanagan

Previant, Goldberg, Uelmen, Gratz, Miller & Brueggeman, S.C.

Union members may call the law firm of Previant, Goldberg, Uelmen, Gratz, Miller & Brueggeman, S.C. for a free consultation regarding all personal injury matters. Please feel free to call our number collect in your area: 414/271-4500 (Milwaukee), 920/863-3500 (Green Bay) or 262/549-6300 (Waukesha), or call our statewide toll free number 800/841-5232, or call our Green Bay area toll free number 877/863-3500.

Members may also meet with an attorney at the Union office on the first Monday of each month. See link to box on Local 7-232 Legal Clinic for details.

HOW ARE WORKER’S COMPENSATION BENEFITS CALCULATED?

Worker’s Compensation is not a pain and suffering system. It is a formula system with capped payments. Once a doctor’s opinion is known regarding time off from work and any permanency, the compensation due can be easily calculated.

There are three major areas of compensation: Temporary total disability, temporary partial disability, and permanent partial disability.

Temporary total disability is paid while a worker is healing from an injury and not working at all. The worker is paid two-thirds of his gross wage up to a maximum of $582 per week for a 2001 injury.

Temporary partial disability is paid while a worker is healing and able to do light duty work but at less than full wage or full hours. In this situation, a worker receives a percentage of his wages and a percentage of the comp benefit. For example, if a worker is receiving 70% of his wage, he should receive 30% of the comp benefit. If he is receiving 50% of his wage, he should receive 50% of the comp benefit. If he is receiving 80% of his wage, he should receive 20% of the comp benefit. As one can see, the percentages in each example add up to 100%. Workers receiving temporary partial disability should always keep their pay stubs and turn them in to the worker’s compensation carrier so that the proper amount of the comp benefit can be determined.

The final type of payment is permanent partial disability. It is paid after the healing has ended and the temporary total disability payments have stopped. In 2001, the maximum rate is $184 per week. The number of weeks a worker will be paid depends on the part of the body injured and percentage of disability given by the doctor. Once these figures are known, they are inserted into a formula and multiplied by the weekly dollar amount for the year that one is injured. This formula determines the amount of money a worker will be paid for permanent partial disability.