Workplace Injury – Permanent Impairment
If you are injured on the job and you don’t seem to be getting any better, you might have reached what workers’ compensation considers your maximum medical improvement. This means that they believe that you will not get any better, as you have reached your maximum level of recovery.
In situations like these, workers’ compensation provides benefits that address what is considered a permanent impairment. Injuries could have been sustained from occupational diseases, from repetitive motion, from a traumatic accident, or from stress-related issues on the job.
The challenge comes in making sure that the determination of your injury is appropriate. The process is complex, and it can take injured people by surprise. For example, an injury is classified in different ways.
Workplace Injury and Permanent Impairment Concerns
Permanent injury to a toe, foot, hand, leg, or other extremity can be eligible for a Scheduled Loss of Use award. If you have lost 100 percent of your ability to use that extremity, then your calculation can be fairly straightforward. However, most injuries fall somewhere in between, and are not as clear-cut as say, an amputation of a finger, or the loss of hearing.
If your injury is permanent and total, or permanent and partial, unrelated to a body extremity, you can still receive compensation benefits. For example, awards of permanent disability benefits can be awarded for work injuries of the body organs, the torso, joints, spine and back, upper chest, muscles, and soft tissue. Additionally, you can receive benefits for on-the-job injuries that are permanent involving anxiety, post-traumatic stress syndrome, or other mental or emotional conditions.
Contact New Jersey Workers’ Compensation and Rehab Attorney Harold Gerr
The central New Jersey law office of Harold J. Gerr, Attorney at Law represents clients involved who have been injured on the job in workers’ compensation matters, including protecting the rights of those dealing with permanent impairment and disability, those who are navigating loss of use award issues, and vocational rehabilitation matters.
We also protect the rights of those who have been injured or lost loved ones in personal injury and wrongful death accidents, including work accidents. We have been fighting for the rights of the injured for three decades.
Our workers’ comp and personal injury law firm carefully selects the cases we handle, so that we can provide the highest levels of service and personal attention to each client. We are also happy to provide a second opinion about the strength and value of your case. Contact us online or call our office at 732-537-8570 (toll-free at 1-877-249-4600).
