Charleston South Carolina Workers’ Compensation & Work Injury Lawyers

Workers’ compensation is an employee benefits program that an employee receives when they suffer a work-related injury or illness. Workers’ compensation insurance coverage provides compensation to employees for medical expenses and provides wage compensation while the worker is out of work. South Carolina employers must have workers’ compensation insurance coverage. They may have a coverage policy with an insurance provider or be self-insured.

The no-fault workers’ compensation system allows an employee to receive benefits even if they are totally or partially at fault for the accident and injuries. In South Carolina, workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy for compensation for a workplace or work-related injury or illness. Therefore, the employee cannot sue their employer in a personal injury lawsuit for their injuries and damages. Under worker’s compensation, the employee also cannot seek damages for noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering and emotional distress.

Workers' compensation is no-fault insurance that provides compensation to employees who suffer a workplace or work-related injury or illness. All South Carolina employers must have workers' compensation insurance to cover their employees unless the business falls with exceptions under state law.

After a work injury, an employee must notify their employer of the incident within 90 days from the date of the accident. When the employee gets approval to receive workers' compensation benefits, the employer’s workers' compensation insurance policy will pay out. Payment amounts are based on the employee’s wage before the accident. The length of time the injured employee receives benefits depends on whether the injury is temporary or permanent.

In the United States, nearly 3 million people suffer a nonfatal workplace injury each year. South Carolina workers who suffer a job-related injury must inform their employers about the incident immediately or as soon as possible thereafter. State law requires the injured employee to report the incident within ninety days from the date of its occurrence. However, if the employer does not report the incident, denies compensation to the employee for their injuries, or the employee believes they are entitled to more benefits than they received, then the worker may file a claim with the South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission (WCC). The applicant may submit Form 50 or Form 52 to the WCC to review the accident and injury claim.

An injured worker must file their claim before the deadline, or they forfeit their right to seek compensation for the work-related accident. South Carolina’s statute of limitation to file a workers’ compensation claim is two years from the date of the accident. If the employee died from a workplace accident, a representative of their estate must file a claim within two years from the date of death. For a worker who developed an occupational disease arising from their employment, the two-year time period does not start until a doctor definitively diagnoses the employee with having an occupational disease and receives notification of the diagnosis.

When an employee suffers an injury or illness at the workplace or a work-related injury or illness, they may seek compensation from their employer’s workers’ compensation insurance. However, certain circumstances can disqualify an employee from workers’ compensation benefits.

If the employee’s injury or illness is not work-related or did not occur in the workplace, the employee is ineligible for workers’ compensation. Next, employees are mandated to notify their employer of a work-related injury or illness immediately. If you are unable to report the accident to your employer within ninety days from the date of the injury you will be disqualified from workers’ compensation. The South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Act also provides a list of types of employment that disqualify a worker from receiving workers’ compensation even if their injury is work-related. The list is as follows:

• Casual employees whose employment is irregular, unpredictable, sporadic, or short-term
• People regularly employed with an employer with less than four employees or whose annual payroll for the previous calendar year is less than three thousand dollars regardless of the number of employees
• Agricultural employees
• Railroad employees
• Licensed real estate salespeople
• Federal employees in South Carolina

There is a seven-day waiting period in South Carolina between the time of your workplace injury and the time of payment. After seven days, you may be eligible for workers’ compensation payments. If your injury lasts more than 14 days, then you will be paid for the seven-day waiting period.

If your doctor approves you for “light duty” work, you must return to work. Refusing to go back to work could cause your compensation to be terminated. If you believe that you are not healthy enough to perform your job duties, you can request a hearing. In this case, an experienced workplace accident attorney can help you take the necessary legal steps to protect your health and well-being.

When calculating the benefits you will receive on a weekly basis, the Judge looks at your gross average weekly wage. In most cases, an injured worker will receive two-thirds of their gross average weekly wage every week that the work injury causes them to be off work. There are a few exceptions to this general rule.

If your average weekly wage is $75/week or less, then you will receive 100 percent of your wages each week that you are off. The other exception involves the state of South Carolina, every year, setting the top limit of the average weekly wage that a worker can receive, no matter how much money they make in the average week. Therefore, if you are a highly paid worker and you are hurt, your weekly wage benefit will be lowered to the state-mandated average weekly wage.

If you are injured at work, the best thing to do is to contact the workers’ compensation lawyers at the Steinberg Law Firm. We have helped hundreds of injured workers get the benefits they deserve and helped to protect them and their families from financial ruin. There is no downside to contacting us to help you with your work injury claim. The initial consultation is free.

Your workers’ compensation payments should last until your doctor gives you permission to return to work. If your injury lasts more than 150 days, your employer will have to ask you to sign a receipt of compensation after 15 days back at work. If you return to work before 150 days, you will have time to assess whether you agree with the termination of your workers’ compensation payment and file for a hearing if you disagree. A workers’ compensation lawyer can help you determine whether you should still be receiving payment.

As a general rule, it is very difficult to bring personal injury suits against employers following workplace injuries. You cannot file a suit if you have already received compensation through the workers’ comp program. And yet you are required to apply for this compensation before you can file a suit.

You may have grounds for a workplace injury lawsuit if your employer deliberately caused your injuries; if your employer has been grossly negligent; or if a third party such as a client or a manufacturer of tools you use at work is responsible for your injuries. To discuss the details of your case, contact an experienced Charleston workplace injury lawyer today.

South Carolina workers’ compensation cases often involve many common injuries. Most work injuries are minor, only needing one or two trips to the doctor’s and a few days off work. But other injuries can be quite serious, requiring months of treatment and possibly years off of work, or permanent disabilities or even death. Here are some standard work related injuries that we see most often.

• Spinal cord injuries in the neck and lower back including bulging and herniated discs, cervical and lumbar fusions, broken or fractured vertebrae, and degenerative disc disease caused from years of repetitive movement;
• Shoulder injuries such as rotator cuff tears, dislocated shoulders, and degenerative conditions that require shoulder replacement surgery;
• Knee injuries such as dislocated knees, torn ACL, MCL or other ligaments, and degenerative conditions requiring total knee replacement;
• Carpal tunnel syndrome, causing severe pain and numbness in the hands and fingers and is caused by severely repetitive motions with the hands and wrists during work activities;
• Broken bones due to trip and falls or being entangled with a machine;
• Lacerations, amputations and burns due to unsafe work activities; Overexertion injuries causing pulled muscles and ligaments in various parts of the body;
• Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) or Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD);
• Lung injuries from inhaling toxic fumes or from working in factories for a long time, contracting COPD;
• Accidents that cause a fatality.

If you are injured at work, the best thing to do is to contact the workers’ compensation lawyers at the Steinberg Law Firm. We have helped hundreds of injured workers get the benefits they deserve and helped to protect them and their families from financial ruin. There is no downside to contacting us to help you with your work injury claim. The initial consultation is free.

Partial Disability: This category of wage benefits is dictated by whether the partial disability is temporary or permanent. If your partial disability is of a temporary nature, then you can receive weekly wage benefits of two-thirds of your average weekly wage for a maximum of 340 weeks (approximately 6.5 years). Obviously, if your injuries recover and you can return back to work without restrictions, then your weekly benefits will stop as soon as you return to work. With permanent partial disability, some categories of injuries will automatically grant you a specific amount of weeks of wage benefits, regardless if you are out of work or not. Some examples of permanent partial disability benefits include:

• 65 weeks of payments for losing a thumb
• 32 weeks for losing a big toe
• 10 weeks for losing any other toe
• 220 weeks for losing an arm
• 195 weeks for losing a leg
• 300 weeks for losing 1 to 49 percent of the use of your back
• 140 weeks for losing vision in an eye (or losing the eye)

If you are injured at work, the best thing to do is to contact the workers’ compensation lawyers at the Steinberg Law Firm. We have helped hundreds of injured workers get the benefits they deserve and helped to protect them and their families from financial ruin. There is no downside to contacting us to help you with your work injury claim. The initial consultation is free.

Unfortunately, even though the workers’ compensation system in South Carolina was initially designed to be easy to use and benefits were supposed to be easily obtained, far too many workers are unfairly denied the workers’ compensation benefits they desperately need. In these circumstances, legal action can help workers gain access to the benefits to which they are entitled. In South Carolina, two major criteria are used to determine compensation: whether your disability is temporary or permanent, and whether it is partial or total. This determination could make a big difference in what you receive.

Total Disability: If your injuries are so severe that you cannot work at all, even on a light duty basis, then you can receive total disability benefits which is two-thirds of your average weekly wage. This benefit has a maximum of up to 500 weeks (approximately 9.6 years), assuming that your total disability is permanent. There is an exception to this rule, however. If your injury has caused you to suffer from brain damage or has left you a paraplegic or quadriplegic, there is no time limit and you will receive total disability benefits for the rest of your life. You can also qualify for temporary total disability benefits if you lose certain body parts, either through amputation or loss of use:

• Losing the use of both hands
• Losing the use of both arms
• Losing the use of both shoulders
• Losing the use of both feet
• Losing the use of both legs
• Losing the use of both hips
• Losing vision in both eyes
• Losing two of any of the above (for example, use of one hand and one foot)

If you are injured at work, contact the workers’ compensation lawyers at the Steinberg Law Firm. We have helped hundreds of injured workers get the benefits they deserve and helped to protect them and their families from financial ruin. There is no downside to contacting us to help you with your work injury claim. The initial consultation is free.

You have two options in this situation: contact your workers’ compensation insurance provider directly or file a request for a second opinion with the SC Workers’ Compensation Commission. Either way can take some time to show results, so you may want to have legal assistance as you seek a second opinion.

For more information, contact a Charleston workers’ compensation attorney through the Steinberg Law Firm at 843-720-2800.

Death Benefits: Unfortunately, some work injuries result in the death of a worker. In these instances, the employee’s family is awarded a certain amount of death benefits to compensate them for the loss of the income of their deceased family member. In South Carolina, the following family members are conclusively presumed to be total dependents:

• a spouse;
• a child under 18;
• a child under 23 who is a full-time student at an accredited school;
• a child of any age who is incapable of self-support due to a disability.
• Other people can also qualify as total or partial dependents, but only if they actually depended on the worker for financial support at least three months prior to the work accident.

There is a limitation to the payment of death benefits, however. The death must happen within two years of the work-related incident, or, if the worker has a continuing total disability, within six years of the work-related incident. Death benefits are calculated similarly to other types of benefits — two-thirds of the deceased workers’ average weekly wage (but capped by the state’s maximum average weekly wage which changes every year). Death benefits are paid in the following order of priority:

• Whole dependents: If there are whole dependents, they share the weekly benefit. However, if there is a spouse and two or more children, the spouse will receive at least 50 percent, and the children will share the remaining 50 percent.
• Partial dependents: If there are no whole dependents, partial dependents will receive benefits in proportion to how much they relied on the worker’s earnings. If any of the benefit is left over, it will go to the worker’s nondependent children, or if there are none, to the worker’s nondependent parents.
• Nondependent children: If there are no whole or partial dependents, the worker’s nondependent children will receive the benefit.
• Nondependent parents: If there are no dependents or nondependent children, the worker’s nondependent parents receive the benefit.

Death benefits are paid for a maximum of 500 weeks from the date of the injury. Benefits for children end when they reach 18, or if they are enrolled in school full time when they reach age 23. However, children who are physically or mentally incapable of self-support will continue to receive benefits for the full 500 weeks. Further, the workers’ compensation insurance company will have to pay up to $12,000 for funeral and burial expenses.

If you are injured at work, the best thing to do is to contact the workers’ compensation lawyers at the Steinberg Law Firm. We have helped hundreds of injured workers get the benefits they deserve and helped to protect them and their families from financial ruin. There is no downside to contacting us to help you with your work injury claim. The initial consultation is free.

Having the right workers’ compensation lawyers on your side, fighting for your rights and the benefits you deserve will go a long way in keeping you and your family safe and financially secure. The Charleston workers’ compensation lawyers at Steinberg Law Firm have handled thousands of workers’ compensation cases dealing with every issue possible. Let us use our experience to help you through this troubling time.

When you are injured at work, some employers do not like that at all. They do not want their workers’ compensation insurance premiums to go up, which happens from time to time when there are a lot of work injuries. Often, employers will try to convince you to not report the injury and suffer through it. These unscrupulous practices are against South Carolina’s workers’ compensation laws.

Furthermore, these employers and their insurance companies have a team of adjusters, lawyers and private investigators working day and night to pay you as little money as possible or not even pay you at all.

You should have a team of highly trained, highly skilled South Carolina workers’ compensation lawyers on your side. The attorneys and staff at the Steinberg Law Firm will aggressively represent you all the way from the initial phone call to investigating the accident and making sure you are paid the benefits that you deserve. There are many things that we will do for you to fight and win your claim:

• Explaining to you in common sense terms the work injury laws in South Carolina and what types of benefits you deserve;
• Gathering all of the appropriate documentation such as accident/injury reports from the employer, medical records and witness statements before we draft and file your claim with the workers’ compensation judge;
• We will determine what amount your wage benefits should be and explain to you the law in how your weekly wage benefits are calculated;
• Determine if you are owed any lost wages and, if so, how much, along with calculating the appropriate interest on past due wages;
• Preparing you to testify at hearings before the judge, if necessary, along with any witnesses that are required to prove your claim;
• Hire and take the depositions of any treating physicians or medical experts that will be necessary to prove that your disability is related to a provable work injury;
• Ensure that all of your work-related medical bills are paid, including any money for possible future treatment that might be necessary;
• When the right time comes, negotiating with the insurance company for a fair and honest settlement of your claim to ensure you are fully compensated for your medical bills and lost wages and lost earning capacity going into the future;
• If your disability is permanent, making sure that you and your family will be fully taken care of in the future.

If you are injured at work, the best thing to do is to contact the workers’ compensation lawyers at the Steinberg Law Firm. We have helped hundreds of injured workers get the benefits they deserve and helped to protect them and their families from financial ruin. There is no downside to contacting us to help you with your work injury claim. The initial consultation is free.