Workers’ compensation in Mississippi is required for any private employers with five or more regular employees, and because Mississippi is a no-fault state, employers compensate injured workers for medical bills, lost wages, and permanent impairments resulting from their injuries. People may receive workers’ compensation for a wide variety of reasons while on-the-job, depending on if you are an employee of the company in which the injury took place at, and if your employer has coverage. Generally, an employee who suffers a work-related injury or illness is eligible to receive workers’ compensation regardless of who is at fault. In Mississippi, employers are required to provide workers’ compensation insurance to all of their employees unless they have fewer than five employees.
Any way in which a person may be injured on the job is eligible for worker’s compensation. There are a few disability benefits you may collect as well, depending on your condition such as:
Temporary Total Disability Benefits
- If you are unable to go into work because of an injury that occurred on the job, or you need time off to recover, then you may be eligible for temporary total disability benefits. This means that you are unable to work in your current condition for a set amount of time. Each week you are entitled to a certain amount of earnings, typically around ⅔ of your average weekly wages. These earnings will go on until you reach what doctors refer to as ‘maximum medical improvement’, or in other words, you have recovered to the fullest that your doctor believes you will. The maximum amount of days to receive wages on temporary total disability benefits is 450 weeks. So, even if you are not recovered by then, your wages will come to a halt.
Temporary Partial Disability Benefits
- If you are able to work while you recover or are injured, you may be entitled to temporary partial disability benefits. This is typically awarded when a person is able to work, but will be earning less than they would when fully healthy.
Permanent Total Disability Benefits
- If your doctor deems you as reaching your ‘maximum medical improvement’ and you are still not recovered in a drastic way, such as paralysis or loss of a major body part, then you may be eligible for permanent total disability benefits. This occurs when someone loses one or two legs, eyes, ears, arms, hands or feet. This benefit awards the same earnings rate as temporary total disability benefits would, also at a maximum of 450 weeks.
Permanent Partial Disability Benefits
- If you have a permanent impairment, but you are not entirely disabled or at a loss, then you may qualify for permanent partial disability benefits. This means that you are still able to work, and/or you did not lose full use of a body part. For example, if you lose use of an arm, permanent total disability benefits would pay you for 200 weeks. With 50% use of your arm under permanent partial disability benefits, you will be compensated for 100 weeks instead.
Overall, there are laws and regulations that protect people who are injured on the job and those who are unable to work because of it. With a growing rate of people working remotely, or from home, how does workers’ compensation come into play, if at all? Recently a woman who works from home was injured on her way to get a cup of coffee. She fell down her staircase and broke her shoulder. She notified the company she worked for that she was filing a workers’ compensation claim. At first, it’s tricky as to whether she should be eligible to do so or not. There is no way to say whether there were obstructions on her staircase that were the fault of her own or her family. The only thing available as proof is that she was on the clock when the injury occurred. It doesn’t help that she claims she probably would not have been going through the same motions had she not been on the job. Because this accident happened in the home though, does workers’ compensation cover it?
In this case, it did. The HR Department of her company ultimately set new bounds for what is expected of remote workers’ workspaces as well as policies surrounding workers’ compensation. To the fault of no one but the company for not having foreseen this issue, the woman was able to collect workers’ compensation for an injury that occurred in her own household while on the job.
Contact The Braddock Law Firm today to learn more about your legal options and receive the best legal representation available in the area. We provide superb representation for victims who have been involved in a work related injury or for family members who have lost a loved one in an on-the-job catastrophe. We understand the emotional, physical, and financial struggle that comes with loss, of any kind. Our team is here, waiting for you to make the choice to pursue justice and receive the compensation to which you are entitled.