Philadelphia Vision Loss Workers’ Comp Lawyers

Accidents and injuries that take away your eyesight or cause you to lose one or both eyes are incredibly tragic injuries.  From chemical exposure to physical injury to traumatic brain injuries, the causes of vision loss can vary greatly and depend heavily on the specific tasks involved in your job.  However, if the injury is considered work-related, it could entitle you to benefits through Workers’ Compensation.

Workers’ Comp pays for a worker’s lost earning capacity after a work-related injury, helping make up 2/3 of the difference between old and new wages or paying them 2/3 of their average pre-injury wage during periods of total incapacity.  When it comes to permanent injuries like vision loss, you may also be entitled to “specific loss” benefits to pay you back for your loss.  All of this comes on top of medical care costs, potentially including procedures needed to restore your eyesight.

Call our Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Lawyers at Cardamone Law at (267) 651-7945 for a free case evaluation today.

How Workers’ Comp Covers Vision Loss in Philadelphia

As mentioned, injuries causing vision loss should be covered if they are deemed “work-related.”  This is often a low bar and can be met in many work injury cases.  The coverage you receive will usually include benefits for lost earnings, medical care, and “specific loss” benefits.

Meeting “Work-Related” Requirements

An injury is considered work-related under the Workers’ Comp Act if it happens in the course of your job while working in a “master-servant” relationship.  This master-servant relationship merely means that you are working as an employee when the accident happens as opposed to working as an independent contractor.  This may exclude some workers from coverage.

Otherwise, having an accident be in the course of your work is often straightforward: if it happened while performing your job or during work hours at a workplace, it likely qualifies.  For example, an electrician being blinded by a sparking electrical box would likely have that considered work-related, as the tasks were a direct part of their job.  Additionally, a fire breaking out in your office building would likely qualify as work-related if that fire blinded you, even if that fire did not ignite because of your direct work tasks.

Proving that an injury was work-related often requires medical evidence, testimony from witnesses, and other evidence to counter your employer’s insurance carrier’s denial, and our vision loss Workers’ Comp lawyers can help you obtain and collect this evidence and put it in a form we can present to the Workers’ Comp Judge at a hearing.

Wage-Loss Benefits

If your loss of vision or other injuries that occurred in the same accident take you out of work entirely, then you can get benefits during your period of total disability.  These benefits typically equal 2/3 of your average wage prior to the accident, with some exceptions for low-wage earners who can get up to 90% of their average wage.  These benefits are always subject to a cap set by law each year.

Loss of both eyes should automatically constitute total disability, allowing full benefits.  Additionally, loss of the use of either or both eyes qualifies the same as loss of the eye(s), so total blindness should also qualify as total disability for Workers’ Comp benefits unless the Workers’ Comp Board decides otherwise.

If you are eventually able to return to work with a reduced earning capacity, you can get 2/3 of the reduction in wages paid as benefits.  This subtracts your post-injury wage from your pre-injury wage and pays you 2/3 of the difference.

There may be “healing periods” associated with loss of one eye, where it is expected that you would be fully healed and, barring other disabilities, able to return to work in 10 weeks.

Medical Benefits

All care to treat your lost eyes or loss of vision should be covered under Workers’ Compensation.  This may include emergency treatment, follow-up care, occupational therapy, and even surgical and therapeutic procedures to potentially restore your eyesight.

Specific Loss Benefits

The Workers’ Compensation Act also pays special benefits to workers who lose a body part, lose function in a body part, or lose their eyesight or hearing because of working conditions or work accidents.  The specific terminology used in the statute is “loss of an eye” or both eyes, but the Act does make it clear that loss of use is treated the same as physical loss, so that blindness in one or both eyes qualifies the same as the physical loss of one or both eyes.

For the loss of an eye or loss of use in one eye, specific loss benefits pay you 2/3 of your wages for 275 weeks.  For loss or loss of vision in both eyes, this would be doubled to 550 weeks of 2/3 of your wages.  Note that these benefits are separate from the wage-loss benefits.

If your eyesight is restored through surgery or other therapies, this likely will not qualify as permanent loss, and you would likely not qualify for specific loss benefits.

Common Injuries that Cause Lost Vision in Philadelphia

Vision loss can occur by a few different mechanisms of injury:

Brain Trauma

Damage to the occipital lobe of the brain – the part that controls the eyes, located at the back of the brain – could result in lost eyesight without any actual damage to the eyes.  This kind of injury can occur from something as simple as hitting the back of your head in a fall.

Physical Loss of an Eye/Eye Damage

Having an eye put out in an accident can happen from all sorts of physical trauma or exposure to chemicals, heat, or other dangers.

Detached Retina

Some accidents can cause the retina to detach, causing total vision loss in that eye.  This can happen for various reasons after another injury causes complications.  This is also sometimes reversible.

Call Our Workers’ Comp Lawyers for Vision Loss in Philadelphia

If you lost an eye or eyesight in an accident at work, call (267) 651-7945 for a free case assessment with our vision loss Workers’ Comp lawyers.