Rhode Island Workers’ Compensation: What Injured Workers Need to Know

If you work in injury-prone fields such as construction or machinery, you probably already have a basic understanding of workers’ compensation and how the system works. However, even if you do, it’s always good to brush up – and if you don’t, it’s time to start reading. Workers’ compensation is a legal system designed to provide timely benefits to workers who were injured on the job. The system was created in order to protect workers from ending up in dire financial straits due to being injured. Workers’ compensation offers:

• Partial wage replacement
• Appropriate medical care
• Vocational rehabilitation 

Workers’ compensation mandates employers to care for their injured workers as a business cost, rather than forcing injured workers to go on public assistance and putting the burden of care on taxpayers. Virtually all employers are required to have insurance or self-insurance covering work related injuries.

What Does Workers’ Compensation Cover?

Workers’ compensation covers any injury that is incurred on the job due to preventable means. Exceptions include injuries caused intentionally by the worker in question, or if the worker was intoxicated while injured. The main types of covered injuries are listed below, though the list is not exhaustive:

• Injuries that happen over a period of time due to accumulated stresses of the job 
• Injuries caused by an acute incident such as falling or lifting
• When a specific injury aggravated pre-existing conditions
• When constant or repetitive stresses of the job aggravates pre-existing conditions
• “Flow-from” injuries – this means any medical condition or injury resulting from a work-related injury. For example, if a worker injures one arm on the job and as a result begins to overuse the other arm, any injuries incurred due to the overuse of their other arm is a “flow-from” injury (even if they recover from the original injury)

Rhode Island Workers’ Compensation Benefits

Under Rhode Island law, injured workers are entitled to the following benefits:

• Roughly 75% of weekly compensation take home pay. This is calculated based on the average of earnings from all jobs the injured workers had before the injury
• Total disability benefits continue without any time limitation, and injured workers who return to light duty work will continue to be compensated for any loss of income from not being able to work in their previous capacity.
• The injured worker may choose their own doctor, and workers’ compensation covers all medical expenses
• Compensation is paid for any disfigurement or scare as the result of the injury or for any permanent loss of use of a body part
• For injured workers who are permanently disabled, the insurance company pays the cost of vocational rehabilitation and retraining 
• Injured workers – with certain exceptions – have the right to return to their job

Contact Us Today

If you were recently injured while on the job, you may need an experienced Rhode Island workers’ compensation attorney to help you navigate the complexities of workers’ compensation law in order to get the full benefits you may be entitled to. Call Tapalian Law to consult with a top Rhode Island workers’ compensation lawyer today.