What are examples of compensation when you are injured on the job in California?

Under California’s workers’ compensation system, there are four basic types of benefits that you’re entitled to as compensation if you suffered an on-the-job injury.  

The first type of compensation you’re entitled to under the California workers’ compensation system is better characterized as a benefit than compensation. That benefit that you are entitled to is all of your medical care reasonably necessary for your injury. It is characterized as a benefit instead of compensation because you do not pay upfront for your care in workers’ compensation. The employer has to pay that care directly as a benefit. That’s different than in the personal injury world, where you have to seek your own medical care, and then you have to seek compensation for that care after the fact to get reimbursed. 

The second type of compensation we usually address in the workers’ compensation system has to do with temporary disability benefits. You’re entitled to temporary disability benefits if you’re off work for three or more days. In some situations, you’re entitled to temporary disability benefits right away. Historically, those benefits are 2/3 of your average weekly earnings until you can return to work, whether it’s full duty or with modified duty. Unfortunately, there is a time limit when those benefits will run out, which is usually 104 cumulative weeks. If you get to the end of 104 cumulative weeks, then often Social Security or a different type of state benefit does kick in. 

The third benefit that we talk about in workers’ compensation is generally referred to as permanent disability benefits. Permanent disability benefits are a calculation of your overall disability using objective factors such as lifting, bending, stooping, ten minutes, ten points, sometimes, always, never.  Those types of factors go into a formula that then determines your rating. That rating gives another formula that determines the amount of benefits you are entitled to for your permanent disability. Unfortunately, one of the things you didn’t hear in that calculation was pain and suffering. With rare exceptions, workers’ compensation really doesn’t take into account pain and suffering for most disability ratings.  

The last standard compensation that we deal with workers’ compensation claims has to do with vocational rehabilitation rights. Suppose you find yourself in a situation where your lifelong limitations are such that you cannot return to your prior occupation then in that case, there’s a vocational voucher that you may be entitled to that helps you towards retraining or finding a new job. 

So again, the four basic types of compensation that you’re entitled to in the workers’ compensation system had to do with medical care, temporary disability, permanent disability, and vocational rehabilitation. There are other situations that you might be entitled to benefits when the injury was caused by the serious and willful misconduct of your employer, there’s a penalty that might apply, so you might want to speak to an attorney about it. If you’ve been discriminated against, you may have what is known as a 132A violation named after a Labor Code.