Being injured on the job — or as a result of your job — is frightening and difficult.
Work-related injuries that prevent you from doing your job can cause extreme stress for both you and your loved ones.
Workers’ compensation laws across the country are designed to ease that stress by offering compensation for your injuries and lost wages, but it’s not always as simple as it sounds.
What injuries are covered under Louisiana workers’ compensation laws?
Louisiana’s workers’ compensation laws cover both mental and physical injuries from either accidents or occupational diseases.
Here’s what these types of injuries can look like:
- Mental injuries: It’s important to note that a mental injury must be the result of a physical injury or of a sudden, unexpected and extraordinary stress related to the job. In either case, you’ll have to be able to prove that the mental injury is in fact job-related. That task is sometimes easier said than done.
- Accidents: An accident is defined by the Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Act as an unexpected or unforeseen actual, identifiable, precipitous event happening suddenly or violently, with or without human fault, and directly causing an injury. The injury cannot be a gradual deterioration or a progressive degeneration.
- Occupational diseases: An occupational disease is defined by the Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Act as only that disease or illness that is directly due to specific conditions of a specific trade, occupation or employment — for instance, a coal miner who develops black lung from years of working in coal mines.
- Other work-related injuries: The event causing the injury must be directly related to and be within the course and scope of the worker’s employment. Generally, it doesn’t matter whether the injury was the fault of the employer or the employee.
What are some of the most common workers’ compensation claims?
The most common workers’ compensation claims are rather minor injuries, including:
- Strains and sprains
- Cuts or punctures
- Contusions
- Inflammation
- Fractures
But there are other more serious injuries that often result in workers’ compensation claims, as well:
- Electrocutions
- Amputation
- Breaking multiple bones, etc.
These more serious injuries tend to be more expensive to pay out, but any injured worker should consider hiring a lawyer to help advocate their case.
When can you be denied workers’ compensation?
There are some cases in which your request for workers’ compensation may be denied.
You could be denied compensation if you willfully injured yourself on purpose, or if you were intoxicated or under the influence of substances at the time of the event. However, there are also exceptions to those laws, such as if your employer was providing the alcohol at the time of the injury.
You could also be denied workers’ compensation if you were the aggressor in an unprovoked physical altercation that happened on the job, or if you were engaged in “horseplay” when you were injured.
Contact Stanley-Wallace Law today
As you can see, workers’ compensation claims can be very complicated, despite being designed to be the opposite. Do you have questions or concerns about your workers’ compensation claim? Contact Stanley-Wallace Law today for a consultation.
