What Does Workers’ Comp Cover in Virginia?

After a serious work injury, you could be in a tough financial position. You’re hurt, you need funds to support yourself, and you’re unable to work. You may be eligible for a Workers’ Comp claim, but what does Workers’ Comp cover in Virginia?

Here’s what Virginia workers’ comp pays for, and what it doesn’t.

Medical Bills

After a serious work injury, you shouldn’t have to pay for your medical care yourself. Your employer must offer a panel of at least three doctors, and you choose one. If your claim is denied, you can generally choose your own doctor instead. The insurance company is required to pay for medical treatment that is reasonable, necessary, and causally related to your work accident. That doesn’t mean it will.

Medical benefits can include travel to medical appointments, too. For example, you may have to travel out of your town to see a specialist about your injury, and workers’ comp can reimburse mileage for travel to and from medical appointments.

Disability Benefits

You may be unable to work, but that doesn’t mean you can get by without an income. You still need some wage replacement benefits to cover your daily expenses and needs.

Disability benefits replace part of your wages, not all of them. If a doctor says you cannot return to work at all for a temporary period because of your injuries, you may receive two-thirds of the pre-injury average weekly wage you received during the year immediately prior to your accident, up to a maximum weekly compensation rate.

You may receive benefits to help offset loss of income when your doctor only allows you to return to work with restrictions (often called “light duty”) and you are earning less than you were before you got hurt. The amount paid in these situations is two-thirds of the difference between what you were earning before you got hurt, and what you are earning now that you are injured and working light duty.

Death Benefits

Workers’ comp can provide death benefits to the family of a worker who loses their life because of a workplace injury. These benefits can pay for a limited amount of funeral expenses, medical bills incurred before the death, and lost wages for certain periods of time for certain survivors or dependents who meet statutory criteria.

What Workers’ Comp Doesn’t Cover

Workers’ comp does not pay for pain and suffering. It pays for specific things: medical care, part of your lost wages, and permanent loss of use of certain body parts. Here’s how impairment ratings work.