A GUIDE TO MASSACHUSETTS WORKERS’ COMPENSATION BENEFITS
Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation Act is primarily a wage replacement system. When an employee is disabled as a result of a work-related injury, the employee is paid through the employer’s workers’ compensation insurer a percentage of his/her average weekly wage (as determined over the prior 52 weeks), as well as injury related medical care. No disability benefits are payable during the first five days of incapacity unless the incapacity extends for a period of 21 days or more. An employee may receive disability benefits when totally or partially disabled. All benefits are tax-free.
List of benefits generally available:
1.
Section 34: If an employee is temporarily
totally incapacitated the employee is entitled to 60% of his/her average weekly
wage for a maximum of three years.
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2. Section 35: If an employee is partially
incapacitated the employee is entitled to 60% of the difference between his/her
average weekly wage and what he/she is capable of earning with the work related
incapacity. This benefit is available for 4 or 5 years.
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3. Section 34A: If an employee is permanently totally
disabled the employee is entitled to 66⅔% of the employee’s
average weekly wage plus C.O.L.A.s (cost of living adjustments).
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4. Section 36: An injured employee is
entitled to compensation for scarring on the hand, neck, or face;
disfigurement for limps and other work related deformities; and
loss-of-function. These benefits are based upon the percentage of
the loss of function/impairment relative to the total value of the worker’s
injured body part. The total value of the body part is determined at
certain statutory rates.
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5. Sections 30: An injured employee is entitled to adequate
and reasonable health care services and medicine. Certain employees may
be entitled to vocational rehabilitation. The purpose of vocational
rehabilitation is to retrain a disabled employee in order that he/she may
return to the work force with an earning capacity at or near what the injured
employee was earning on the date of injury.
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6. Section 48 (Lump Sum Settlement): If the employee,
employer and insurer all agree, an insurer may redeem its liability for
compensatory payments of benefits to an employee by paying the employee a lump
sum payment. This one-time payment may serve to redeem any or all of the
liability an insurer has to an injured employee for benefits.
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The above is
not a comprehensive or complete list of benefits payable to employees, but
rather the most commonly paid benefits.
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