Indemnity benefits in workers comp cases are the benefits injured workers receive to make up for their lost wages due to a workplace accident. However, these benefits are typically only a percentage of you regular wages. Additionally, you may receive different types of workers compensation indemnity benefits depending on your injuries and their permanent effects on your life. Watch attorney Robert Martina discuss the four types of lost wages compensation after a work injury.
Video Transcription
Well, indemnity benefits, it’s another word of saying lost wages. When you’re injured and unable to work pending medical treatment, you’re entitled to indemnity benefits. In Louisiana, like most states, you don’t get your full pay if you’re on workers compensation, you get two thirds of your average weekly wage in Louisiana but it’s non-taxable. So, if you’re earning six hundred dollars a week before you got hurt and then you’re hurt and then you’re unable to work pending treatment, you’re entitled to two thirds of six hundred dollars or four hundred dollars per week and that would be your weekly comp rate. Now there’s several different kinds of indemnity benefits. If you’re injured and unable to work pending treatment, you get something called TTD temporary total disability benefits, that’s if you’re unable to work pending treatment you get that check depending on how you were paid at your employer’s when you were working. If at some point you’re able to go back to some type of work but unable to earn 90 percent or more of what you’re earning before at the time of the accident, well, then you’re entitled to something called SEB or supplemental earnings benefits. So, that’s supplemental pay, that supplements what you’re not able to earn if you’re not able to earn 90 percent or more of what you’re earning at the time of the accident then you’re in town to supplemental pay. Now, that’s capped off at ten years subject to what they’ve already paid so once you’re qualified to any type of work, you’re converted from TTD benefits to SEB benefits. There’s also two other types of indemnity benefits in Louisiana PTD, which is a partial temporary total benefits, and then P and T is permanent in total disability benefits. P and T is rare, but if you’re a quadriplegic after the accident or you’re unable to return to any type of work ever for the rest of your life, you may qualify for permanent and total benefits, that’s P and T. PTD is if you’re permanently and totally disabled for a certain period of time or partially totally disabled for a certain period of time, but the most common benefits I would say is TTD temporary total disability benefits and SEB supplemental earnings benefits. Those are the four types of indemnity benefits in Louisiana. For more information on workers compensation claims, go to www.GallowayJefcoat.com.