As the Office of Social Security Policy (SSA) website explains, workers’ compensation programs in the United States are regulated by the state, with laws determined by each state legislative body and implemented by a state agency, and provide the payment of lost wages, medical treatment and rehabilitation services to workers suffering from an occupational injury or illness.
In addition, the SSA explains that when a covered employee suffers a work-related injury or illness, he or she is entitled to specific medical, disability, vocational, and death benefits detailed in each jurisdiction’s statute. Although there are separate laws for each state and separate laws for federal employees, railroad workers, seafarers, and dockers and shipyard workers, the general benefits available are similar.
General benefits of Compensation Insurance include:
- medical expenses and supplies;
- temporary disability, which includes both temporary total disability and temporary partial disability;
- permanent disability, which includes both permanent partial disability and permanent total disability;
- funeral benefits;
- dependency benefits; and
- vocational rehabilitation benefits.
Disability coverage provides weekly cash benefit to replace, in part, wages lost due to unexpected injury or illness that do not arise out or during the course of employment. This is one of the reasons why a handful of states, including New York, have required disability coverage. If you employ full- or part-time workers in New York, you must have legal disability insurance.
In this way, certain events are covered for the peace of mind of the insured and the contractor since:
- workers’ compensation replaces wages no matter how employees become disabled;
- employers cannot purchase workers’ compensation and disability coverage together;
- pays for medical costs;
- it’s enough for most employees to survive.
How does this benefit a construction company?
Once estimated the number of employees that will be needed, regardless of the time, 2, 20 or 40 hours, enters what is called Workers’ Compensation Insurance, which by covering all the medical part in case a worker is injured, and if he himself, must stop working because of the accident, Enter the Disability Insurance, which covers your salary for the duration of the rest.
Now, in the country context where these insurances are mandatory, it is enough to advise having them, but yes, that their importance is understood in a state like New York, where there is the Absolute Responsibility Law, since this considerably minimizes large economic unforeseen events due to workers’ claims for accidents, the medical coverage of said emergency, as well as the salary payment during the rest you have.
