Can I Receive Other Benefits While Receiving Workers’ Compensation in Louisiana?

When you’re hurt at work in Louisiana, you can get financial and medical help through workers’ compensation benefits.

But many times, you may be entitled to other benefits, too.

Don’t pass up any additional source of support that could help you recover and move forward with your life.

Talk to a workers’ comp attorney who gives you the full picture of everything available to you, even beyond workers’ comp.

At Workers’ Compensation, LLC, we aim to be a valuable resource to workers all across Louisiana.

In this blog post, we’ll list some of the other benefits you may be able to gain access to, and how they affect your workers’ comp benefits.

Social Security Disability Benefits & Workers’ Comp in Louisiana

It’s quite common for a worker to collect Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) for the same work injury that gave them a workers’ compensation claim.

The Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Act—which controls how workers’ comp works in our state—specifically allows you to collect both SSDI and workers’ comp.

You do, however, need to make sure to report your workers’ comp benefits to the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Social Security Disability is run by the federal government (not Louisiana)—and Social Security may decide to reduce how much you receive in SSDI depending on what you are getting from your state-regulated workers’ comp.

Another important consideration is that Social Security Disability benefits qualify you for Medicare health care—a program also run by the federal government.

Your workers’ comp benefits, overseen by the state, cover medical treatment that results from your injury on the job.

So when you’re looking to finish up and settle your workers’ comp claim, you’ll need to take into account how your health care coverage will work going forward.

When coordinating your options starts to get complicated, an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer can help you sort through it.

Long-Term Disability Insurance, Short-Term Disability Insurance & Workers’ Comp in Louisiana

If you have a private short-term or long-term disability insurance policy, which you bought on your own or received through your job, you may be able to collect both workers’ compensation and short or long-term disability benefits at the same time.

With private insurance policies like this, though, every plan is different. (Unlike government-controlled benefits that work the same way for everyone.)

Your policy could have a workers’ compensation exclusion—meaning it won’t pay benefits if the reason for your claim is a job injury that also qualifies for workers’ comp.

Also, if you have the type of long-term disability or short-term disability insurance paid for at least in part by your employer, the amount you receive in workers’ comp may be reduced. The size of the reduction will be based on the size of the premium your employer pays for your disability insurance.

You’ll need to read and understand the language of your private disability insurance policy to navigate this process.

Retirement Benefits & Workers’ Comp in Louisiana.

If you’re receiving retirement benefits at the time of your work accident—either from Social Security or a private retirement/pension fund—you are allowed to collect workers’ compensation benefits at the same time.

Moreover, your employer cannot reduce the amount of workers’ comp you receive just because you also collect retirement.

You could, however, potentially affect your entitlement to workers’ comp if you decide to retire after the work accident.

Consult with one of the workers’ comp lawyers at Workers’ Compensation, LLC, to help you make this decision. You can start with a free initial consultation.

Unemployment Insurance Benefits and Workers’ Comp in Louisiana

When you can’t work because of a job injury, you may wonder whether you can collect unemployment insurance at the same time as workers’ compensation.

This is one situation where you can’t.

The reasoning for this rule is simple: By collecting unemployment, the worker verifies he or she is willing and able to work. By collecting workers’ compensation for lost wages, the worker is declaring he or she is physically unable to work.

By definition, these two types of benefits contradict one another.

For this reason, the Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Act says workers will forfeit their right to workers’ comp benefits for any week in which they collect unemployment insurance.

Workers’ Comp in Louisiana and Other Types of Benefits: What Next?

When you worked hard, but you got hurt at work, you deserve every form of financial assistance available to you.

But you want to make sure a move you make with one type of benefits doesn’t unnecessarily jeopardize another type.

Our workers’ compensation lawyers can help you maximize the benefits you receive.

For help making the decisions that are right for you, get in touch with us.

Contact Us Today!