“How much money should I expect from a Worker’s Compensation settlement?”
The best answer to the question is to explain the factors the Compensation Board uses when it approves settlements.
First, the wage that an injured worker was making at the time of his/her accident is a factor in determining settlement value. The more money the injured worker was making, the better settlement the injured claimant can expect.
Second, both the treating doctor and the doctor representing the insurance company have to write reports commenting on the disability for the parts of the injured worker’s body. The more each doctor believes an injured worker has permanent damage, the higher the settlement.
Third, an injured worker has to look at the part or parts of his/her body that are injured. There is actually a formula in the Worker’s Compensation Law that states, given a permanent injury to certain body part or parts, the injured worker would be entitled to a certain number of weeks of compensation benefits. There are other body parts, like the back, that don’t have a formula per se for settlements, but there are different ways to classify a worker’s disability for injuries to those body parts.
Based on these three factors, an injured worker can assess the amount of a settlement in a Compensation case.
