South
Carolina Worker’s Compensation Statutes
The first thing that you might not know
about worker’s compensation law is A, it is a creature of statute. In other
words, it is something that the State of South Carolina has entirely made
separate and apart from regular tort law. In that respect one of the main
differences between when you’re injured on the job which is a worker’s
compensation claim is that there is no component for pain and suffering.
In your typical tort case, i.e. a car
accident or slip and fall or something along those lines, something that the
jury and/or judge is always going to take into consideration is the pain and
suffering component of the injury that you suffered.
With regard to a worker’s compensation
claim, there is no pain and suffering component. So in that respect, it’s quite
different. It’s really more a matter of just actual computation based on what
the statute says your particular body part is worth. That multiplied times
whatever your actual hourly wage was in the time that you were actually injured.
South
Carolina is a No Fault System in Worker’s Compensation Cases
The second thing that you need to know
about worker’s compensation is that it’s in fact a no-fault system and in that
respect, it doesn’t matter whether your employer or a third party was at fault
for you being injured while you were on the job.
All that matters is that you were
actually injured and you can prove it and that it happened in the scope of your
employment. The reason why that’s important is because quite honestly that’s
one of the primary focuses of any good defense attorney who is working your
worker’s compensation claim.
They’re going to try and make it so that
whatever happened, it didn’t happen in the scope of your employment. Maybe you
were horsing around is the technical term, playing, and somehow you injured
yourself in that respect or you were on a smoke break or something along those
lines and you fell and you injured yourself that way.
These are ways that you can actually
keep a claim from or make a claim so that it’s actually denied by the Workers
Compensation Commission and ultimately you can keep a plaintiff on the outside
looking in.
As I said before, it’s a creature of
statute, something that was created in the 20th century. It used to be that you
would actually bring a claim against your employer, just as you would against
any other potential defendant but they kind of carved out a little niche in
tort law. They made it no fault. They made it so that it’s – there’s no pain
and suffering component and they made it so that it’s essentially a computation
that’s based on values that are determined by the legislature and periodically
updated as is necessary with your cost of living and your inflation
considerations.
At the Hartman Law
Firm in North Charleston, we have the ability to help with your worker’s
compensation claim. Work injuries can have a devastating effect on your life
but, fortunately, a South Carolina worker’s compensation attorney is here to
help. To schedule a free consultation, please call 843-300-7600 today.
