West Virginia Injury Reporting for Workers� Comp

December 11th, 2006 Posted by Mark

Don’t let the forms for first reporting of injuries fool you. They aren’t that complicated once you get the hand of filling them out. And in West Virginia, as in most other states across this great land, you must be sure to know how to fill these first report of injury forms out because they are required each and every time one of your employees gets hurt.

The way the first report of injury forms work in West Virginia is that you first have to agree that you the employer have been informed and that you understand about your rights and responsibilities as an employer under the West Virginia Workers’ Comp Law. And you must agree to continue to abide by the law, and to agree that you understand that you could get penalized and fined if you fail to follow the West Virginia Workers’ Comp law. Essentially, every time you sign a first report of injury, you agree these statements.

Next, with the West Virginia workers’ comp first report of injury form, you are required to enter your workers’ comp policy number, as well as numbers for your employer number or social security number, your company phone number, and the code for the particular industry that you are in.

You must then start to provide information on the particular employee involved in the accident and on their particular injuries. You’ll need to know here the date when the injury happened, as well as the status of the employee when they got hurt. Were they part time, full time, temporary or permanent.

You will have to know too when and if they stopped coming to work because of their injuries, and when this work stoppage began. You should also know when they returned to work after their injury, if at all.

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West Virginia Workers� Comp Compliance

December 4th, 2006 Posted by Mark

The state of West Virginia sometimes gets made fun of in the popular TV shows and in popular culture. You know the stereotype—the hillbillies who live in the mountain of West Virginia and are cut off from the rest of the modern country. But the workers’ comp system in West Virginia is nothing to be made fun of or taken lightly.

As with all of the other workers’ comp systems that we’ve seen over these blog entries over the course of this last week, West Virginia’s workers’ comp system has the goal of protecting the state’s employees in case of injury or illness at work. And we’re not just talking about the state government’s employees. We’re talking about every worker in the state, in the private, nonprofit and public sector.

And the West Virginia system is also serious when it comes to enforcing its system. Employers who are supposed to have a workers’ comp insurance policy, and who fail to have one, can expect the law not to take their offense lightly. In fact, if an employer is caught in the state of West Virginia without workers’ comp coverage, and an accident occurs on the job at one of their work sites, the employer could expect to get sued in civil court by the employee or face a suit in the workers’ comp court in West Virginia.

In civil court, the employer could be opening themselves up to a huge lawsuit with a huge price tags at the end of it. Plus, the state can order the business to shut down until they get workers’ comp insurance, or fine the employer for not having workers’ comp coverage. Worse yet for the employer themselves, they could face their own personal money open up to lawsuits and fines.

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West Virginia Workers� Compensation Law

August 12th, 2006 Posted by Nicole

I found that in West Virginia, it is necessary for an employer to have workers’ compensation (otherwise known as “workers’ comp). In other words, employers are required to provide workers’ comp benefits to their employees. Luckily, employers may purchase workers’ compensation insurance through a state fund or they may choose to self-insure. However, in West Virginia, workers’ compensation waivers are not permitted.

Casual employers with fewer than three employees and agricultural workers/employers with less than six employees are not required to have workers’ compensation though. These employers may choose to provide voluntary workers’ compensation coverage for the domestic servants or other employees, even though it is not required.

If an employer is required to provide workers’ compensation benefits to his or her employees, then full medical benefits are provided to these employees as well. There is no monetary or time limit to the worker for how and when he or she can receive the workers’ compensation benefits. Employees may also choose which physician they can see on their own.

Disability is also provided under the tenants of the West Virginia Workers’ Compensation Act. There are three main types of disability: Temporary total disability (TTD), Permanent total disability (PTD) and Permanent partial disability (PPD). Each one is treated individually.

Under the terms of TTD, payments are made in an amount determined by a percentage of the worker’s wage. The payments are subject to weekly maximum and minimum payment amounts and may continue for up to 208 weeks.

PTD payments are made also based on a percentage relating to the worker’s wage and are subject to weekly minimum and maximum amounts. Payments may then continue until the claimant becomes old enough to receive Social Security benefits.

Finally, payments for PPD are made based upon a percentage of the worker’s wage and are also subject to weekly maximum and minimum amounts.

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