Nothing on this page should be taken as legal advice. Every case is different.
If you hurt your back in an accident at work in Virginia, workers’ comp generally pays your medical care and two-thirds of your lost wages while you can’t work. It doesn’t pay for pain and suffering, and in most cases you can’t sue your employer instead. The fight in most back claims is over whether a specific accident caused the injury, or whether the insurance company can call it wear and tear.
What Workers’ Comp Pays for a Back Injury
Virginia workers’ comp pays medical care, wage checks while you’re out or earning less, and in some cases a permanent rating, but not pain and suffering.
| Benefit | What it pays | Law |
|---|---|---|
| Medical care | Reasonable, necessary treatment for the injury, including surgery, therapy, injections, and prescriptions, for as long as it’s needed and related to the accident | Va. Code § 65.2-603 |
| Wage checks while you can’t work (temporary total disability) | Two-thirds of your average weekly wage, up to a weekly maximum. For injuries on or after July 1, 2026, the maximum is $1,507.01 a week. | Va. Code § 65.2-500 |
| Wage checks on light duty at lower pay (temporary partial disability) | Two-thirds of the difference between your old wage and what you earn now | Va. Code § 65.2-502 |
| A permanent rating | The back itself isn’t on Virginia’s rating schedule. A rating is paid when the back injury causes lasting loss of use of an arm or a leg, such as nerve damage down the leg. | Va. Code § 65.2-503 |
| Permanent total disability | Paid for life in a few listed situations, including an injury that leaves you, for all practical purposes, totally paralyzed | Va. Code § 65.2-503(C), § 65.2-500(D) |
Wage checks are generally limited to 500 weeks in all, except for permanent total disability. Here’s how long workers’ comp lasts in Virginia and how impairment ratings work.
Is Your Back Injury Covered?
A back injury is covered when an identifiable incident at a reasonably definite time causes a sudden mechanical or structural change in your body, at work and because of your work. That’s the “injury by accident” rule, and the accident must arise out of and in the course of your job (Va. Code § 65.2-101).
| How your back was hurt | Usually covered? |
|---|---|
| A specific lift, pull, twist, fall, or crash at work, and you can say when | Yes, if the medical evidence connects the injury to that event |
| Pain that built up over months or years of lifting, bending, or driving, with no single event | Generally no. Gradual wear from repeated work is generally not an injury by accident. |
| An older back problem made structurally worse by a specific work accident | It can be. A work accident that aggravates a pre-existing condition can be covered. |
Whose fault it was generally doesn’t matter. You can be covered even if you lifted the wrong way. A few defenses turn on your conduct, such as willfully breaking a safety rule you knew about, and the insurance company has to prove them (Va. Code § 65.2-306).
Can You Sue for a Back Injury at Work?
Usually not your employer or a coworker. Workers’ comp is generally your only remedy against them, even when the employer’s carelessness caused the injury (Va. Code § 65.2-307). That’s the trade the law makes: you don’t have to prove fault, and you can’t get pain and suffering.
A lawsuit can be possible against an outside party, someone who isn’t your employer or part of its business. The common example is a driver from another company who rear-ends your work truck. If you recover from that person, the workers’ comp insurance company generally has a lien on what you recover for the benefits it paid (Va. Code § 65.2-309). Whether a company counts as an outside party is often the hardest question in these cases. Here’s more on a car accident at work in Virginia.
How Insurance Companies Fight Back Claims
Back claims are among the most contested, because back pain is common and the insurance company can often point to something other than the accident. The arguments that come up most:
- “No specific accident.” If the first medical record says your back “has been bothering you for months,” the insurer will call it gradual onset. Tell every doctor exactly what you were lifting or doing, and when.
- “It’s degenerative.” Most adult MRIs show some wear. The question is whether the accident caused a new structural change or aggravated the old one. Here’s how that plays out in a herniated disc claim.
- Late notice. You must give your employer written notice right away. Benefits can be barred if notice isn’t given within 30 days of the accident, unless the Commission excuses the delay (Va. Code § 65.2-600).
- Gaps in treatment. Weeks without care give the insurer room to argue something else happened in between.
- Surgery and treatment denials. The insurer may send you to its own doctor for an exam (Va. Code § 65.2-607). The insurance company is required to pay for reasonable, necessary treatment related to the accident. That doesn’t mean it will.
- Light duty. Once you’re released with lifting limits, a job offer within your restrictions can stop your checks if you turn it down without a good reason. Here’s when you can refuse light duty.
“In back cases, the fight is rarely over whether someone is hurt. It’s over the first medical record. If it says your back has been bothering you for a while, and not the box you lifted on Tuesday, the insurance company builds its whole defense on that one line.”
Bryn Swartz, founder of Pathfinder Injury Law
Common Back Injuries at Work
| Injury | What often matters in the claim |
|---|---|
| Herniated or bulging disc | Proof of a specific incident, and the degenerative defense. See herniated disc workers’ comp. |
| Muscle strain or sprain | Usually shorter treatment. The fight is often over whether pain that lingers is still from the accident. |
| Fractured vertebra | Often from a fall or a crash, so the accident is easier to prove. Value turns on surgery and permanent limits. |
| Spinal cord injury | Medical care that can last a lifetime, and possibly permanent total disability |
Neck, mid-back, and low-back injuries are covered more fully in what to do after a spine injury at work.
What a Back Injury Claim Is Worth
No one can fairly value a back claim without the medical records. What usually moves the value: whether a specific accident is proven, whether you need surgery (a fusion tends to mean longer recovery and lasting limits), future medical care, your average weekly wage, how long you’re out of work, whether you can go back to heavy work, and any arm or leg rating from nerve damage.
A settlement is optional, and the Commission must approve it (Va. Code § 65.2-701). A full and final settlement closes your medical benefits for good, which matters for a back that may need care for years. Here’s how a Virginia workers’ comp settlement is calculated.
“On the first call, I won’t guess what your case is worth. I don’t know anything about it yet. Any lawyer who puts a number on it that early is making it up.”
Bryn Swartz, founder of Pathfinder Injury Law
Steps to Take After a Back Injury at Work
- Get medical care, and tell the doctor it happened at work and exactly how.
- Give your employer written notice right away, and no later than 30 days (Va. Code § 65.2-600).
- Ask for the panel of doctors in writing. Here’s how choosing a workers’ comp doctor works.
- Keep every work note and restriction in writing, and give copies to your employer.
- File your claim with the Commission within two years of the accident, generally (Va. Code § 65.2-601). File it even if the insurance company accepted your injury and is paying. You can ask the Commission for a hearing whatever the insurance company decides.
Back Injury Questions
My back pain came on slowly. Is it covered?
Generally not, if there was no specific incident. But many workers do remember a moment, a heavy lift or a bad step, when the pain got much worse. If that happened, it should be in your medical records.
Do I get a permanent rating for my back?
Not for the back itself, because it isn’t on Virginia’s rating schedule. If the injury causes lasting loss of use of an arm or a leg, that limb can be rated (Va. Code § 65.2-503). See impairment ratings in Virginia.
When do the checks start?
Wage checks start on the eighth day out of work, and the first seven days are paid back if you’re out more than three weeks (Va. Code § 65.2-509). Here’s when Virginia workers’ comp starts paying.
Talk to Pathfinder Injury Law About Your Back Injury
Pathfinder Injury Law handles only Virginia workers’ compensation claims. Call 804-505-0633 or use our online contact form.