All About Worker Comp

Worker's comp, or worker's compensation is a payment made by an insurance company for a worker who was injured on the job and is losing time on the job as well as wages because of the injury. The employer pays insurance, much like a liability insurance, which covers the payments made to the employee in the event of being injured on the job.

Before an employee can claim worker's comp, they must be seen by a doctor as soon as the injury is realized. The doctor is usually a doctor who handles all of the company's business. Many injuries on the job do not require enough time away from work to qualify the employee for worker's comp payments.

In most cases, the doctor must provide written documentation that the employee was injured on the job and that injury requires the employee to remain off from work for a specific period of time. The minimum is 8 days. After the seventh day of being off work, generally the worker's compensation payments are started.

Worker's comp is not a full time salary, it is a percentage of your wages earned over a period of time. For example, some insurance companies use the last six months of wages to obtain an average per pay period salary. From there, the percentage that you are to be paid is calculated.

Because worker's comp is so expensive for employers, many will try to get the worker back to work before the payments will be started. They offer jobs that the employee would be able to do with the injury.