By Thomas D. DeMatteo
Vice President &
General Counsel
ABC Companies

There are three basic categories of recovery that are common to all worker's compensation statutes: medical and related expenses; disability benefits, and death benefits.
Medical expenses, such as doctors, nurses, hospital, rehabilitation and drugs, are recoverable.
Disability benefits provide for loss of earnings or earning power as a result of the injury. The amount of disability benefit is determined by state statutory formulas that are based on either a medical loss or wage loss theory. That is why you can have different recoveries for the same type of injury in different states.
Death benefits are also based on statutory formulas and/or paid to the beneficiaries.
Disabilities are classified into four categories: temporary partial, temporary total, permanent partial and permanent total. Each category contains the severity of injury plus a duration of time.
Temporary partial disability means an injured employee cannot perform the job he/she had when injured but can engage in gainful employment. When healed, this person returns to his/her old job.
Temporary total disability means the employee cannot work at all - but only for a temporary period. Following recovery, the person returns to work.
Permanent partial disability means the injury is permanent but the employee can still be gainfully employed.
Permanent total disability occurs when the injury is permanent and the employee cannot be gainfully employed for an indefinite time. The amount of disability benefits is designed to compensate the employee for lost wages and/or the reduction in earnings capacity.
You should feel free to actively manage the claim with your insurance carrier by staying in close contact with your claims adjuster to return the employee back to work as soon as possible.

Footnote: Hood, Jack B., Hardy, Benjamin A., Lewis, Harold S., Worker's Compensation and Employee Protection Laws, West Publishing, 1990.

Thomas D. DeMatteo is also an adjunct professor at Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minn.