Workers’ Comp Benefits Attorney in Michigan

What Benefits Can I Receive Through Workers' Compensation?

Michigan workers’ compensation benefits are defined under the law to include payments for medical care, lost wages, and vocational rehabilitation. Our Michigan attorney at Adler Firm, PLLC, supported by a friendly, professional staff, focuses on helping injured workers obtain all the benefits they deserve.

We encourage you to get us involved as soon as you know you have a serious, potentially long-term workers’ compensation claim. Having a proven lawyer on your side could be critical for getting the medical treatment you need and preserving your financial stability.

Call (888) 966-9524, or contact us online to get in touch with our caring attorney. With more than 30 years of experience helping clients, we can be trusted to help you secure the benefits you deserve.

Focused on Ensuring You Receive All the Money You Deserve Under the Law

Our decades of successful experience handling workers’ compensation claims can be a tremendous asset for you as you seek fair, just benefits for:

• Medical care — including all “reasonable and necessary” treatment, services, and equipment, including hospitalization, surgery, and other needs, for as long as you need it to deal with your work-related injury
• Wage loss — typically paid weekly, at a value of 80 percent of your net (after-tax) weekly wage, for as long as you are disabled from work because of the injury or work-related illness
• Vocational rehabilitation — ranging from the employer making adjustments to your workstation to payment for a vocational rehabilitation counselor to help you decide on the course of training or education you need to perform in a different job

How Much Will I Receive from Workers’ Compensation?

Most people who suffer work-related injuries that prevent them from continuing to work are concerned, and rightfully so. If you have just lost your ability to earn money at your job, you will most likely be wondering: how are workers’ compensation benefits calculated?

Most injured workers are entitled to wage-loss benefits, reimbursement for medical expenses arising from the injury, and vocational rehabilitation benefits, each calculated differently.

Wage-Loss Benefits

Generally, a worker who suffered a work-related injury resulting in wage loss is entitled to 80 percent of the net average weekly wage (AWW) from the past year. The AWW is based on the highest 39 weeks of earnings during the 52 weeks prior to the injury. The maximum rate of benefits that a worker can receive is 90 percent of the state average weekly wage.

Workers who are injured but still able to work in a different job that pays less are generally entitled to compensation for 80 percent of the after-tax difference in wages between the two jobs.

Special Loss Benefits

Certain types of injures in which body parts are lost (arms, legs, hands, feet, fingers, toes, and eyes) entitle the injured worker to additional workers’ compensation benefits, despite the ability to work and earn wages. Michigan workers’ compensation law mandates a certain number of weeks of benefits for different body parts. Further, a worker who suffered a special loss is entitled to a minimum of 25 percent of the state average weekly wage.

Total and Permanent Disability

Workers classified as totally and permanently disabled are eligible to receive increased workers’ compensation benefits.

Some of the injuries or illnesses that qualify workers for total and permanent disability classification include permanent:

• Blindness
• Loss of hands, feet, arms, or legs
• Paralysis
• Insanity

Total and permanent disability benefit recipients can take advantage of state minimum and maximum benefit structures, and their benefits are not subject to any reductions or offsets arising from other benefits.

Reduced Benefits

In many cases, workers’ compensation benefits will be reduced or offset for people receiving pensions or other benefits from their employers. Sometimes an injured worker receiving workers’ compensation benefits will experience a reduction in Social Security Disability Insurance benefits. An injured worker cannot receive more than 80% of their pre-injury monthly earnings when workers’ compensation benefits and Social Security Disability benefits are being received at the same time.

Medical Benefits

An injured worker is entitled to all reasonable and necessary medical care for as long as such need remains. Either the medical professional will send the medical bill directly to the employer or insurance company, or the employee pays for medical care and is reimbursed. The medical professional is required to send the medical bill directly to the employer or insurance company for payment. The employee is not responsible for any medical expenses that are reasonable and necessary, so long as they are related to the injury or disease.

How Long Can You Collect Workers' Compensation in Michigan?

An injured employee is entitled to workers' compensation after a full week (on the 8th day) of a lasting injury. While both short and long-term disability are viable options for most people, a person who has a permanent disability which qualifies for workers' comp benefits can collect this compensation for the remainder of their life.

Will Life-Long Compensation Decrease at Any Time?

In many cases, such as when a person is collecting social security, when a person receiving life-long workers' compensation benefits reaches 65 years of age, their benefits begin to decrease 5% each year.

Medical Treatment After a Workplace Injury in Michigan

Under Michigan workers’ compensation law, an injured employee is usually entitled to payment of all “reasonable and necessary” medical expenses related to the work injury or occupational illness. In reality, getting high-quality, comprehensive medical care for work injuries can be a serious challenge.

Your financial stability and future could depend on knowing your rights upfront. Your employer or the insurer may not treat you fairly nor give you accurate information. Our focus when you contact us is squarely on helping you by holding employers and workers’ compensation insurers accountable under the law.

Vocational Rehabilitation After a Workplace Injury

The need for “rehabilitation” after a work injury can become a source of dispute — but if you need medical services or education in order to get back to work, there is a very good chance the law is on your side. In addition to medical care and lost wages, Michigan workers’ compensation law provides for vocational rehabilitation benefits. Our legal team has extensive medical knowledge and a strong understanding of all the benefits you can receive.

After anything from a neck or back injury to the diagnosis of a disabling condition such as reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), we may be able to help you get vocational rehabilitation, such as:

• An adjustment to your workstation or working conditions that enables you to perform your former job
• Help from a vocational rehabilitation specialist in order to define another job with your employer that you can perform
• Up to two years of retraining or re-education enabling you to return to the workforce in a different occupation or for a different employer

Focused on Your Rights and Your Recovery

Over the past three decades, our attorney has helped people with all types of serious work injuries get the medical care and other benefits they need. Under most circumstances, workers’ compensation insurance should cover doctors’ appointments, hospital services, surgery, prescription medication, nursing care, and equipment or apparatus necessary to cure and relieve the injury to the greatest possible extent.

However, disputes arise often when insurers refuse to pay, stop paying, deny coverage for specific medical bills, or begin making unfair demands on you as an injured worker.

Problems our legal team can address for you include:

• An unfair denial or delay of your claim — or refusal to pay specific bills — leaving you wondering how you will pay for the medical care and treatment you need
• Insistence that you can only see a company doctor or other approved physician — even after the initial 10-day period, when the law allows you to choose your own medical provider
• A biased diagnosis by an independent medical examiner (IME) chosen by the insurer
• Underpayment of your benefits, which likely should include payment of transportation costs to medical appointments

Do Not Struggle on Your Own with an Uncooperative Employer or Insurer

Financial pressures and uncertainty lead many people to try getting by without checkups, procedures. and services essential to their recovery. We’re here to help protect your rights and keep you out of that situation. At any point after you suffer a work injury, we encourage you to contact us for a free, no-risk consultation.

Obstacles to getting the benefits you deserve can come up at any time during your claim. The employer might insist you are ready to return to work before you are recovered, for example, or an insurer might refuse to pay a specific bill for medical treatment. Sometimes, benefit checks simply stop coming or are delayed for weeks at a time, putting you under great stress.

Helping injured workers is a primary focus at our law firm. We are respected for our ability to go to bat for our clients to maximize their recovery. Whenever you have a question about your rights or benefits, you can contact us free of charge.

Call (888) 966-9524 to learn more about your workers’ comp benefits from our Michigan attorney.