This post discusses Back injuries and NC Workers’ Compensation. We represent clients who have injured their backs at work in workers' compensation claims.
We do not get paid unless you win, and we offer free case reviews. You can start online now or call us at 919-615-3095 for your free case review.
Causes & Types of Back Injury
Unfortunately for workers, back injuries are common, accounting for one of every five workplace injuries or illnesses in the United States (via UMD).
This number equates to more than 1 million workers injured each year.
The primary cause of back pain is manual materials handling, including lifting, placing, carrying, holding, and lowering.
Improper lifting techniques can lead to back injuries, according to the National Safety Council (NSC.org).
The lower back is a common site of injury, and repetitive motion can be harmful.
Healthcare workers, construction workers, stockers, and truck drivers have a higher prevalence of back injuries (CDC).
Back injuries can range from strains and sprains to fractures, herniated discs, or spinal cord injuries, depending on the precipitating event.
Treatment for a workers' comp back injury can range from physical therapy to injections to back surgery.
More severe injuries will require extensive medical treatment and leave a worker with chronic pain and permanent disability that will affect their ability to work in the future.
North Carolina Workers' Compensation Benefits
If you have been injured at work, inform your employer and seek immediate medical attention.
Most employers will tell you where to seek treatment, but even if they do not, you should seek proper treatment for your workplace injury immediately.
If you are injured by a 3rd party while working (think car accident), then you will also have a personal injury claim, which will be separate from your workers' comp claim.
North Carolina Workers' Compensation benefits are adjudicated by the North Carolina Industrial Commission (NCIC).
The injured employee must file Form 18 with the NCIC to report the injury, and the employer must file Form 19.
However, for an injured worker to receive weekly benefits, the workers' compensation insurance carrier must accept their claim (Form 60, 62, or 63).
If the workers' compensation carrier denies the claim (Form 61), the worker must bear the costs of their injury and request a hearing.
When the North Carolina Industrial Commission approves the claim, the worker will then (and only then) receive compensation.
If you are injured on the job, workers' comp provides medical compensation and wage loss benefits for non-fatal injuries and death benefits for fatal injuries.
Medical Compensation
Medical compensation includes medical treatment and mileage reimbursement for the treatment of your on-the-job injury.
Future medical expenses are also included if their necessity is established.
In accepted workers' compensation claims, the employer directs medical treatment and pays the medical bills.
In denied claims, a worker can seek treatment anywhere they choose, but will be reimbursed for medical expenses only if they prevail later.
Lost Wages
Lost Wage benefits provide monetary compensation due to your inability to earn wages because of your on-the-job injury.
Temporary total disability benefits (TTD) are the benefits owed to an NC workers’ compensation recipient when they are unable to work for a period of time that is more than 7 days.
If an employee is awarded temporary total disability benefits, they will get 2/3 of their average weekly wage, not to exceed $1,446.00, per the NCIC.
Generally, a worker getting TTD will return to work at the discretion of their treating physician (who is paid by the employer's workers' compensation carrier).
Temporary partial disability benefits are for injured workers who are capable of returning to work but not at their pre-injury wages.
In this case, a worker may be entitled to 2/3 the difference between their pre- and post-injury wages.
Permanent Impairment
Permanent partial disability benefits (PPD) are assigned to workers who sustain a permanent injury and cannot return to the same work because of the injury.
An injured worker who gets PPD is assigned a disability rating by a doctor, which is a percentage of injury to that body part.
The amount of compensation for the loss of use of a body part is defined by statute (see 97-31).
Back Injury Workers' Comp
For a workers' compensation back injury to be compensable, the injury must meet the standards set forth by the North Carolina Workers' Compensation Act in one of the two following ways:
Injury by Accident
“Injury by Accident” is the default for all NC Workers’ Compensation claims, and must happen within the course and scope of your employment.
To quote 97-2: “Injury and personal injury" shall mean only injury by accident arising out of and in the course of the employment, and shall not include a disease in any form, except where it results naturally and unavoidably from the accident.”
An example of "injury by accident" would be if you are walking at work, trip, fall, and herniate a lumbar disc.
OR
Specific Traumatic Incident
“Specific Traumatic Incident” when the resulting injury is to the back.
“With respect to back injuries, however, where injury to the back arises out of and in the course of the employment and is the direct result of a specific traumatic incident of the work assigned, 'injury by accident' shall be construed to include any disabling physical injury to the back arising out of and causally related to such incident.”
But, what is a Specific Traumatic Incident? The statute doesn’t define this; however, since the 1983 change, courts have interpreted it by example.
Examples of Specific Traumatic Incidents:
One example is Richards v. Town of Valdese, where the court held that a firefighter who worked 15 hours in full gear suffered a compensable back injury after experiencing back pain later that day.
The specific traumatic injury can be an event or a series of events that happened within a cognizable time that led to a back injury, and not just a single accident.
A back injury can even be considered compensable as a specific traumatic incident, even when the symptoms appear in a different part of the body, so long as a doctor can show that the back injury caused the symptoms.
In Ruffin v. Compass Group USA, the injured worker was lifting a heavy box when she experienced left shoulder pain.
The doctor was able to show that the shoulder symptoms came from herniated disks in her back.
You can even have a compensable back injury where the pain isn’t felt immediately. In Beam v. Floyd’s Creek Baptist Church, a church secretary was carrying a heavy load up stairs and suffered an injury but felt no pain until the next morning.
The court said this was compensable because the pain is a result of the specific traumatic injury.
You need to show that the injury occurred within a cognizable time frame from when the pain was felt.
Workers' Compensation Settlement for Back Injury
How much compensation can you receive for a back injury from workers' compensation?
The answer depends on the extent of your back injury.
A worker with a devastating spinal cord injury will face life-altering challenges in the future.
Future medical expenses, future lost wages, permanent impairment, medical equipment, and home modifications are all compensable with severe back injuries.
Whereas a worker with a back strain/sprain will not require this level of care, so their settlement will be smaller.
At a minimum, an injured worker should be paid for lost wages, medical treatment, and any permanent impairment they have sustained.
Do you need a Workers' Comp Attorney?
The North Carolina workers' compensation process can be intimidating.
Even with an accepted claim, issues can arise when insurance companies refuse to pay for necessary medical care, deeming it "too expensive."
For denied claims, injured workers will receive no compensation for their work-related injury unless they pursue the matter with the NCIC.
But with the help of an NC Workers’ Compensation Attorney, you can fight for fair compensation in the form of a lump sum settlement.
An experienced attorney can examine the circumstances of how your injury happened to make the correct arguments to the NCIC to ensure maximum compensation for your injury settlement.
The Bishop Law Firm represents clients injured on the job in Raleigh, Cary, Durham, and the surrounding areas of North Carolina.
We do not get paid unless we win, and we offer free case reviews. Call us today, (919) 615-3095.
Also read North Carolina Workers' Compensation Lawyer & Types of NC Workers' Compensation Benefits
