[Transcript]
Hi, I'm South Carolina personal injury attorney Kenneth Berger, and I made this video to help answer questions about injuries on the job in South Carolina. So, here's what you need to know. First thing, there are lots of different types of shoulder injuries. You may have a:
- torn rotator cuff
- torn labrum
- there may be an impingement of the nerve
- or even a dislocation.
And you should know that shoulder injuries are viewed very seriously under the workers' comp act. In fact, you may be familiar with the structure where workers' comp assigns a number of different weeks to different body parts. It's an odd thing to think about, but it's how workers' comp operates in South Carolina. Your arm is worth 220 weeks of compensation. Your shoulder, however, is worth up to 300 weeks of compensation. So again, the law takes this very seriously.
In part, because the law recognizes that a shoulder injury can impact someone in a variety of ways with regard to how they work and what work they're able to do. So, in South Carolina's workers' comp system for a shoulder injury or otherwise, you're looking at 3 main benefits.
3 Main Benefits to Look For Within the South Carolina Workers' Comp System
- First thing, workers' comp should pay for all medical treatment that you need in relation to your shoulder injury. Okay? So, whatever the doctors are saying you need for your shoulder, workers' comp is supposed to pay for that.
- Additionally, anytime that you miss from work due to your injury, you should be getting paid for. You may be familiar with this already. Workers' comp pays you two-thirds of your average weekly wage. So, if you were making a thousand dollars a week on the job before you got hurt, then workers' comp should be cutting you a check each week for two-thirds of that - in this case, $667, and that money is tax-free.
- And the last thing is that at the end of your case, workers' comp should be paying you some type of settlement and that's for what is known as permanent impairment or disability.
So, your shoulder doctor may assign you an impairment rating, and that impairment rating combined with how that impairment affects your ability to make a living going forward at the same level you were providing before your injury, those factors together helps establish what's known as a disability rating for purposes of workers' comp, and that disability rating multiplied by the number of weeks the shoulder is worth (300) helps inform or determine a likely settlement value. Those are things that we're glad to walk people through during free consultations and otherwise.
If you have any questions, contact us right here on our website, through our live chat feature, or call us, and we're glad to give you a free consultation, answer questions, and if we think we can benefit you, we'll let you know. If we think that this is something you can handle on your own without the need of a lawyer, we'll tell you just the same. So, we look forward to answering those questions and helping you however we can. And the last thing is, we - of course, and most importantly - wish you a fast and full recovery. Take care.