The workers’ compensation program was designed to protect workers who are injured on the job. It is a state-mandated insurance program with varying laws depending on where you live.  Workers’ comp in general can be very confusing, and there are many benefits people have that they don’t even realize. Here are four important facts about workers’ compensation that you might not know about. 

1. Hearing Loss Claims Covered.

There are many workers subjected to loud noises throughout the day when the exposure is both avoidable and unavoidable. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has set parameters on how much exposure is considered safe. But the fact is that whether the injury was occupational and gradually developed over time, or traumatic, and happened as a workplace accident, the worker should be covered under workers’ compensation insurance. You may be employed as a policeman, or a construction worker, or even a nightclub employee that continuously hears loud music—you need to know that hearing loss is a form of workplace injury that is covered by workers’ compensation in Georgia.

2. Worsened Preexisting Conditions Covered.

Technically, Georgia law does not cover a preexisting condition on its own. It does, however, cover aggravations of preexisting conditions. An aggravation of this condition covers when you have an injury that makes a preexisting condition worse. An example would be if you suffer from the preexisting condition of osteoarthritis. Then, you sustain a back injury at work which makes the osteoarthritis flare up. Georgia law states that is an aggravation of a preexisting condition and would likely be a compensable claim. Preexisting conditions can range from chronic disease to a previous work injury. It is important to note that filing this type of claim can be complicated and confusing. You must contact a local workers’ compensation lawyer to help you navigate the system. When you are filing a claim, the Board decides whether the injury was related to a preexisting condition and to what extent. Also, if you were ever dishonest in the past about a preexisting condition (excluded it from your paperwork) then your claim might be denied. 

3. Occupational Diseses.

An occupational disease is any disease that a worker develops related to his or her employment. Typically, an occupational disease develops over the course of time after the worker is around it repetitively. Georgia law provides that an occupational disease can be treated as an injury by accident and the worker is entitled to income, medical, and other benefits. As with every other type of work related injury, to be compressible the disease must have arisen out of and in the course of employment. It is important to note that psychiatric and psychological problems are not considered to be occupational diseases.

4. Your Fault, Still Covered.

In Georgia, the workers’ compensation process operates as a ‘no fault’ system on both sides. In other words, claimants are not required to show that their employers were at fault to succeed in a claim and conversely, even if the worker was at fault it does not make him ineligible to receive benefits. Workers’ compensation is not a benefit that considers who was at fault for the injury—the only prerequisite is that it happened while on the job. The exception to the no fault law is if the worker was committing a crime at the time of the accident or under the influence of drugs and alcohol—those are reasons for a claim to be denied.  

There are many other things to know about workers’ compensation benefits which can be best explained to you by a workers’ compensation attorney. They are there to ensure that all the benefits to which you are entitled are received in a timely manner.