Common Workers' Compensation Abbreviations

If you, or anyone you know, is working on a workers' compensation claim, you may be dealing with mountains of paperwork covered in acronyms and abbreviations. Don't let yourself drown in these oceans of acronyms, but try to understand what some of them mean. It's important to understand them for your workers' compensation case, so that you can work efficiently with a Central Florida workers' compensation attorney. Your lawyer may be able to help you decipher some of the abbreviations relating to your case, but here is a list of some common ones:

Activities of Daily Living (ADL)

These are activities that we, as individuals, are expected to perform in our daily lives. They're usually simple and routine tasks that we may take for granted, such as personal hygiene (brushing your teeth, combing your hair, etc.) or feeding yourself. Your workers' compensation lawyer may look at these to see if your injury affected them.

Average Weekly Wage (AWW)

Depending on your particular injury, you may not be able to continue working in the future. Your attorney may try to determine your average weekly wage, and help you receive benefits for lost wages. There is more information on calculating average weekly wage here.

Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA)

The cost of living (wages, medical treatment, food, etc.) changes over time. Because of inflation, adjustments may be made when workers' compensation benefits are paid over many years.

Employer/Carrier (E/C)

This refers to the employer and workers' comp insurance carrier.

Future Earning Capacity (FEC)

This often appears alongside the employee's impairment rating (see below). It refers to the amount you could potentially earn in the future had you not been injured on the job.

Impairment Rating (IR)

This is your level of impairment as determined by your doctor. If he or she determines that you will recover from your injuries and will be able to lead an uninterrupted life during the recovery process, you may be assigned temporary partial disability. On the other hand, if your impairment is more serious than that, you may receive a temporary total disability rating.

Last Day Paid/Last Day Worked (LDP/LDW)

Important dates to know when calculating the total amount of lost wages.

Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI)

Your doctor may at some point come to the conclusion that your injuries will no longer improve with medical care. You may still be entitled to benefits, though, so it's important to discuss the details of your case with a workers' compensation attorney.

Permanent Total Disability (PTD)

This is one of the impairment ratings used by authorized physicians. It may vary from state to state, but in the Florida Statue 440.15 this rating is determined by whether or not the employee experienced severe brain or spinal cord injury, amputated a body part, or is generally unable to engage in sedentary work within 50 miles of their house.

Social Security Administration (SSA)

The Social Security Administration is responsible for paying specific disability benefits. If your at-work injury resulted in you being disabled, you may be able to file for and collect disability benefits.

Temporary Partial Disability (TPD)

This is another impairment rating, which assumes that the employee will be able to return to work in a reasonable amount of time.

Temporary Total Disability (TTD)

This particular impairment rating is similar to permanent total disability. It deals with severe impairments such as a loss of limb, a loss of sight, a loss of function in daily life, etc. However, in the case of TTD, if the employee is able to perform light sedentary work within 50 miles of their home, then their benefits may be affected.

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Injury At Work: The Most Common Types People Endure

An injury at work is no longer a headline-grabbing occurrence unless it's on a large scale as what happened in the Philippines last week, when 11 workers fell from a City construction site. But this doesn't mean to say that they no longer happen. Injuries at work are still commonplace that is hardly surprising when you consider the amount of time an average worker will spend doing his/her work.

The most common types of injuries are those to the upper body. These types of injury happen mainly to workers in occupations wherein their job requires doing the same tasks repeatedly. Those working in food processing, electronic and auto assembly or even office data entry are the types of jobs that require a worker to do the same tasks constantly thus the likelihood of upper body injuries. The neck, shoulders, elbows, hands and wrist are most susceptible to soft tissue injuries. These types of repetitive motion injuries may develop or may become progressively worse overtime. Those exerting force and subject to extreme vibrations are most at risk.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is the most common form of upper body injury, this occurs when the median nerve gets trapped between tendons that are inflamed or swollen. This in turn can lead to severe pain being experienced in the wrists and hands rendering the victim unable to use their hands properly, a loss of feeling and in extreme cases partial paralysis.

Another common injury in the workplace is back injuries, second only to the common cold as a reason workers lose much time at work. Back injuries will normally include muscle strains, ligament damage and/or tendon ruptures. The simplest are strained or pulled muscles but all these are often caused by over-stretching.

An injury at work is easily sustained by those workers that are required to lift or move heavy objects. Bad posture is also another reason for workers to suffer back problems, sitting in a chair that is not ergonomically designed and uncomfortable is the right mixture for a back problem.

Since there are two halves to a body, the legs and feet are just as prone to accidents especially for those that work in heavy industries. These types of injury normally consist of sprains, strains or muscle tears and unfortunately broken limbs. These injuries can normally be avoided by properly factored workstations and by wearing correct work gear (steel toe capped boots).

An injury at work can have serious repercussions financially not only on the victim but also on the employer with increased insurance premiums or worse, sanctions laid against the company. Compensation claims are a workers right if they have been incapacitated at work, but with a little thought from both employer and employee the number of claims could be drastically reduced. Nobody wants to make a claim against a company that has served them well over many years but if the unexpected does happen then a worker should be able to secure their own entitlements and rights. However, companies rarely undertake compensation claims since they have insurances ready just in case.

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