When Will I Get My First Check?
Knowledgeable lawyers for injured workers known that the law changed in 2012 concerning the payment of the first week of lost wages. La-R.S. 23:1224 of the Louisiana Workers Compensation Act now provides:
- §1224. Payments not recoverable for first week; exceptions No compensation shall be paid for the first week after the injury is received; provided, that in cases where disability from injury continues for two weeks or longer after date of the accident, compensation for the first week shall be paid after the first two weeks have elapsed.
So injured workers should receive the check representing their first week of wage loss benefits once they have missed a full two weeks or more of work with a doctor’s excuse.
WHAT IF AN INJURED WORKER MISSES NO TIME FROM WORK OR LESS THAN ONE WEEK?
She or he may have additional ways to recover. For example, an injured worker may be entitled to money for an impairment rating assigned by his or her treating doctor OR even pain and suffering money for a related third party claim for negligence. For example, If an injured worker loses his entire index finger in a work related accident, misses no work and suffers no loss in wages, he or she may be entitled to a full 30 weeks of weekly payments for the loss of the use of the index finger. See: La-R.S. 23:1221(4). Also, another avenue of potential recover for a person who misses no work and has no accident related wage loss might be a situation where an injured worker suffers a back, neck or other injury, when hit by another company’s stop sign running negligent truck driver. The injured worker may be entitled to money for pain and suffering and related medical bills from the other company and its negligent driver.