Burn Injuries

Burn injuries are common in the workplace. A worker may be burned by heat due to fire or steam, suffer a chemical burn due to contact with an industrial liquid or gas, be exposed to an electrical source like a wire while working, or be injured by radiation exposure from an x-ray machine or other device. These burns can be extremely painful and debilitating, necessitating expensive medical care and potentially disabling a worker indefinitely. Our Rockland County workers’ compensation lawyers handle many different types of personal and work injury cases, including those involving burn injuries. We are here to help you understand your legal rights and advocate for you as you seek fair compensation for what has happened to you.

A worker who has experienced a first or second degree burn will likely require medical treatment and may need to be off of work while recovering from his or her injuries. If an employee suffers more serious burn injuries, such as a third or fourth degree burn, not only will there be a need for extensive medical care, but the worker may never be able to return to his or her pre-injury employment, depending upon the extent of the burn injuries in question. If the burn injury occurred during the course and scope of the worker’s employment, he or she may be entitled to several different types of benefits, including paid medical care, temporary total disability, and/or permanent partial or permanent total disability.

The exact amount of compensation due to a worker harmed on the job can vary substantially from person to person. In addition to the nature and extent of the injury itself, the workers’ compensation tribunal will also look at the vocational disability to the particular worker. This may take into consideration factors such as the employee’s age and general health prior to the injury, the type of work the employee is accustomed to performing, and the worker’s education and prior work experience. Having an experienced work injury attorney on your side can be helpful in presenting your case in the most persuasive light. It can also alleviate the stress of dealing with doctors and hospitals to secure medical records, filing paperwork to support the claim, and seeking an independent medical evaluation as to the amount of disability suffered due to the work injury.

A worker whose wage-earning capacity is totally lost, at least temporarily, due to a work-related burn injury is entitled to receive compensation for lost wages in the form of temporary total disability benefits. Temporary partial disability benefits are owed to an employee who has temporarily lost part, but not all, of his or her earning capacity due to a work injury. For more serious injuries resulting in at least some degree of permanent disability to the employee’s body, a worker may be due either permanent partial or permanent total disability benefits. A worker’s partial or total disability goes from “temporary” to “permanent” at the point when he or she reaches as point of maximum medical improvement.

Workers who are totally or partially disabled and unable to work can receive cash benefits after the first seven days during which they are injured. If the injury continues beyond fourteen days, the worker will be eligible for these benefits dating back to the first day of the injury. The benefit amount a worker is entitled to is based on their average weekly wage during the preceding year. Benefits are equal to 2/3 of the worker’s average weekly wage and multiplied by the percent they are deemed to be disabled. Injured workers can receive benefits up to a weekly maximum amount that varies based on the date of their injury. This amount is adjusted each year at the beginning of July.

Seeking benefits for a work-related burn injury should be simple, but oftentimes it is not. Having a seasoned on-the-job injury attorney by your side can be helpful as you seek to assert your legal rights. To schedule a free consultation, please contact the Law Firm of Valerie J. Crown, Attorney at Law, P.C., at 845-708-5900, call Valerie 24/7 on her cell phone at 845-598-8253, or contact us online. We serve clients throughout the Rockland County and Greater New York areas, as well as Orange, Ulster, Westchester, and Dutchess Counties.