We have witnessed firsthand Orlando construction accident victims and their families left to face a mountain of hospital bills and living expenses without the money they need to afford it. This at a time when the on-the-job injuries these workers suffered may prevent them from working or may have even proved deadly, leaving their family to deal with the devastation of losing them on their own, including:
- Hospitalization
- Rehabilitation and physical therapy
- Long-term care
- Funeral expenses
- Workers’ compensation benefit delays and denials
- Third party claims
- Personal injury lawsuits
- Finding a way to go on knowing the future you planned with someone you lost is no longer possible
Determining Fault Following a Construction Accident:
Construction accidents can be extremely complicated, involving factors such as workers’ compensation, third party claims, insurance law, product liability, personal injury claims and wrongful death. In addition, these incidents can often be the fault of one or more of several different parties, including:
- Construction companies
- Supervisors
- Coworkers
- Contractors
- Subcontractors
- Manufacturers
Types of Medical and Disability Workers’ Compensation Benefits:
With so many factors at play, it can be very difficult for injury victims and their families to determine what type of workers’ compensation benefits to apply for, which can include:
- Supplemental benefits – This applies to injured employees who have not returned to work and cannot find another suitable place of employment or have returned to work in a position that pays less than their pre-injury income.
- Permanent total benefits – Construction workers eligible for these benefits if they are not able to return to work at all, even with a lighter workload or in a less strenuous position
- Permanent impairment benefits – If a construction worker sustains vision loss, has to have an amputation or suffers severe head or facial disfigurement, he or she is eligible for these benefits.
- Impairment income benefits – The state has a formula that helps it determine the level of an injured employee’s impairment, which is a deciding factor in if and how much he or she would receive in medical or disability workers’ compensation benefits. Construction workers are only eligible for impairment income benefits if due to their workplace injuries they receive a permanent impairment rating from the state.
- Death benefits – These benefits can be collected by a construction worker’s surviving dependents if his or her on-the-job injuries resulted in death within one year of the accident or within five years if the worker was continuously disabled due to the injury throughout that time.