Workers’ compensation is an important program in the state, providing essential compensation to those who’ve been injured while at work. While it covers several losses, including medical bills and lost wages, does workers’ comp pay for pain and suffering in North Carolina?
Understanding Workers’ Comp in North Carolina
The workers’ compensation system is designed to protect workers throughout the state from any economic loss that may result from experiencing an injury or illness while performing work duties. To understand what it does and does not cover, it is important to define certain terms.
What Qualifies as Work Duties?
In North Carolina, for an injury to qualify for workers’ compensation, it must be directly work-related. This means that the harm arose out of work duties or occurred during the course of employment. Any activity that an employee is reasonably expected to perform constitutes a work duty. This is clearest if the employee suffers the injury while on the employer’s property.
If the injury happens off-site, it may still qualify under certain conditions. For instance, if an employee’s job duties require travel, such as a delivery driver, then the employee would be covered for injuries sustained while performing off-site work duties.
In some cases, an employee performs a special task that is not otherwise normal under their duties, such as running an errand or picking up supplies. In other cases, an employer may provide a work vehicle or reimburse for travel expenses. Any injuries sustained during these commutes may be covered by workers’ compensation.
What Is Economic Loss?
Economic loss refers to the tangible damages incurred by the work injury. In most cases, this includes medical expenses, lost wages, and any reduced earning capacity resulting from a permanent injury. Because these damages are easily quantifiable costs, they are distinguished as economic loss.
While North Carolina state law recognizes that injuries have other impacts on a person’s life outside of the financial, coverage for those losses is beyond the scope of the intent of workers’ compensation.
What About Pain and Suffering?
Pain and suffering generally encompasses the non-economic damages associated with an injury, such as physical discomfort, emotional distress, and even mental anguish. Because these damages do not have quantifiable costs associated with them, despite representing an actual loss to the injured worker, these damages constitute a separate legal category. Workers’ compensation does not cover these or other non-economic losses.
How Can I Seek Compensation for My Pain and Suffering?
Injured workers can seek retribution for non-economic losses; however, compensation must be sought under personal injury law rather than under workers’ compensation benefits. This is especially true if negligence was involved in the incident that led to the injury.
For example, if a third party, such as the employer or a coworker, was acting with negligence, and that action directly led to the injury in question, the injured worker would be entitled to pursue damages through a personal injury claim against the negligent party. In this type of case, the injured worker would be eligible to receive compensation for pain and suffering in addition to other losses.
It is vital that you speak with a qualified and experienced Greensboro workers’ compensation attorney to discuss the details of your case. By working with a skilled attorney with experience in both the workers’ compensation system and personal injury law, you can ensure that you are able to secure the most favorable outcome in your case and receive the full extent of the compensation you deserve.
FAQs
Q: Does Workers’ Comp Pay for Pain and Suffering in NC?
A: In North Carolina, workers’ compensation is limited to medical expenses and wage replacement for a portion of any lost wages. It does not cover non-economic damages such as pain and suffering. Workers’ compensation laws are focused on quantifiable and tangible losses.
An injured worker can still pursue additional damages with the help of a qualified personal injury attorney. Filing a personal injury case against a negligent party could result in receiving damages for pain and suffering.
Q: How Is Pain and Suffering Calculated in NC?
A: Pain and suffering calculations in North Carolina are nuanced and subjective. Unlike tangible losses, pain and suffering encompasses the emotional distress and physical discomfort experienced due to an injury.
When calculating these damages, NC law will either use a multiplier approach, which multiplies the actual losses by a factor determined by the severity of the injury, or the per diem method, multiplying the losses by the number of days suffered by the injury.
Q: What Does Workers’ Comp Pay in NC?
A: In North Carolina, workers’ compensation may pay for medical expenses, disability benefits, vocational rehabilitation, and death benefits in the event that the work-related injury results in death. The disability benefits will vary, depending on the circumstances of the injury, and could result in temporary total disability, permanent partial disability, or permanent total disability.
Workers’ compensation is, therefore, structured to cover economic losses only and would not cover damages for pain and suffering.
Q: What Type of Compensation Pays for Pain and Suffering?
A: Pain and suffering is considered non-economic compensation and is, therefore, paid for through personal injury claims. Non-economic damages are intended to compensate for the subjective losses suffered by the experiences of the injured party, such as physical discomfort and emotional distress.
It is important to speak with an attorney who can help you pursue all avenues of appropriate compensation, including filing a personal injury claim against a negligent party to recover the necessary non-economic damages.
Speak With a Qualified Greensboro Workers’ Compensation Attorney Today
When you’ve suffered an injury or illness at work, it is vital that you receive the full extent of the compensation you need to recover. By speaking with a knowledgeable and skilled workers’ compensation attorney with experience in personal injury law, you can be sure they can protect your rights and help you pursue all possible damages to which you are entitled.
Contact M. Reid Acree, Jr., Attorney at Law, P.A. today to find out how much your case is worth and begin recovery. M. Reid Acree, Jr. offers a compassionate and individualized approach to every case and can help you understand whether filing a personal injury case for your injury is appropriate in addition to your workers’ compensation claim.