Workers’ compensation is a statewide insurance program for people who got injured at work.  By law, employers must provide this coverage to protect their workers, at no cost to you.  Workers' compensation rules vary from state to state, but they all provide for medical care and replacement of lost wages in the event you are injured on the job.

You may already be familiar with some pieces of this system, but there’s a lot of incorrect information floating around – and people sometimes get bad advice because of it.  Read this section to see if there is something new or useful to you.

Medical care:  As long as your injury qualifies for coverage, you won’t have to pay for the medical care you need for this injury.  There aren’t any deductibles or co-pays like there are in regular health insurance.  Like regular health insurance, there are some limits to what treatment you can get and who can provide the services.

Wage replacement:  If you can’t work for more than 7 consecutive calendar days, workers’ compensation benefits will replace most of your wages until you do get back to work.  The amount of money you get is determined by law, and is primarily based on your past earnings.

Workers' compensation policy documents:  There is no policy document defining the workers' compensation insurance terms and benefits.  Even your employer only gets a brief certificate of coverage proving they purchased the insurance, not a document with all the details of how the insurance works.  Those details are defined by state laws and regulations, by BWC policies and procedures, and by judicial decisions.  These take up hundreds or thousands of pages, and are not easy to master.  If you are interested, you can see them all at BWC Library - Statutes and BWC Library - Policies and Procedures .

Self-insured employers:  Some very large companies — typically with over 500 employees — "self-insure" their workers' compensation program.  They handle all finances and claim processing themselves (or through a Third Party Administrator), but are still subject to the same laws and regulations as the public program run by BWC.  If your employer is self-insured, check with them about how to file your claim and obtain medical care.

Big systems sometimes move slowly:  Things may go slower than you would like.  There is a schedule by which things have to be done.  There are a lot of definitions, details, and rules all laid out in state law and regulations that can complicate things.

If something about your situation doesn’t fit a precise legal definition, that might cause a delay.  Disagreements and disputes need to be handled according to the laws and regulations.  Some people end up getting attorneys to assist with this process.

Things usually go smoothly:  The vast majority of the time, everything goes like clockwork. See How the Process Works – What to Expect.

To make sure things go as smoothly as possible in your case, see our General Suggestions.  That page offers suggestions on what to do if you run into trouble of any kind. 

Help is available for you:  Your Claims Service Specialist (CSS) and other professionals at BWC are here to help you get the right kind of care for your injury, get your life back to normal, and get you back to work.  There is no charge for this service.

You can learn more about the process and especially about the types of benefits available in the BWC Handbook for Injured Employees.