What is NOT covered by Workers’ Compensation in NC?

I’ve already written a (I think several) post(s) on what is covered by Workers’ Compensation in NC.

But I think it makes sense to approach this question from a different perspective:  What is NOT covered by Workers’ Compensation in NC? There is one big thing that most people don’t know.

Let’s start by saying that Workers’ Comp (WC) is NOT like a basic personal injury case.  In a personal injury case in NC you might be able to recover medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering (maybe some other stuff, but these are the main three).  In WC claims you don’t necessarily get all of that.  As I’ve explained before, WC really only covers three things:

1) Payment for your time out of work, but reduced to 2/3 of your average weekly wage;

2) Payment of your medical expenses, but directed by/essentially controlled by the insurance company, and;

3) Payment for any permanent disability, be it partial or total.

So what do you NOT get from WC in NC?

Well, you don’t get ALL of your wages.  You only get 2/3 of your average weekly wage.  The theory being that you’d lose about 1/3 of your gross earnings to taxes/FICA, etc., so they are only on the hook for the other 2/3. But that’s not the worst of it.

You also don’t get pain and suffering.  That’s the big one that people don’t realize most of the time.  It’s somewhat deflating to people when they come in with a claim where they think they are “covered” for all of their losses, only to find out they essentially just get made whole from a financial loss standpoint and there’s nothing to pad the claim with or otherwise “award” them for the suffering they endured as a result of their injury.  This is the hardest thing for most people to accept.  It is in someways ameliorated by the permanent impairment provision, but not always.

“Why is that”, you ask?

I like to say that the “Comp” in Workers’ Comp stands for “Compromise.”  You see, before the Act, if you were hurt at work you got nothing unless you could prove your employer was somehow negligent.  Under the Act, fault doesn’t matter (for the most part), so you’re covered, at least to the point that the Act requires.  In the bad old days, if it was your fault, you were stuck holding the bag and got zilch from your employer.  So the WC Act is a compromise between helping injured workers with a safety net of some sort, but not exposing employers to burdensome liability for things they might not be able to control.

What’s the upshot? Something is better than nothing, so I’m glad we have the WC Act.  But make sure you don’t get stuck with nothing (that, my friends, is an acceptable double negative, so grammar trolls back off).  Talk to an attorney if you have a work injury.  Maybe me – 919-929-2992.