Vocational Education doesn’t usually apply in a Workers Compensation case. If you were
injured on the job, and you have received medical treatment, and if after treatment the doctor says that you are never going to recover enough to perform your former job, vocational education may be in the cards for you.
You can get vocational rehabilitation which is a process by which a vocational counselor will help you look for work within your restrictions as well as assess what type of work you can reasonably do and how much you will make.
This work is considered a medical benefit and should be paid for by the insurance company. And just as you get to choose your own doctor, you can and should choose your own vocational rehab counselor. The ones that the insurance companies choose are often looking out for them, not you.
Part of what you will receive can include:
- Meetings with the counselor.
- Resume writing help.
- A labor market survey to see what types of jobs exist within your restrictions.
- Retraining for you to start a new career.
- Potentially college or other classes if they can increase your earning potential and doing so makes sense.
- Help on how to interview with employers as well as contact them.
- While you are in this process you should continue to receive work comp benefits called maintenance. It’s essentially the same thing as TTD payments, e.g. 2/3 of your average weekly wage, tax free. These benefits do not expire.
While you are in this process you should continue to receive work comp benefits called maintenance. It’s essentially the same thing as TTD payments, e.g. 2/3 of your average weekly wage, tax free. These benefits do not expire.
At some point the vocational counselor will write a report which will state what you can reasonably earn or report what you are able to earn based on your job success. If it turns out you can only make much less in a new job, you don’t have to take it, but that will be used to show that you are entitled to a wage differential payment which is 2/3 of what you could make if you were able to work your old job vs what you can make now.
If you have questions about this, why not call Ben Winter. Ben Winter, P.A. focuses its practice in the areas of Social Security Disability and Workers Compensation in St Petersburg, Florida. For more information, go to our web site www.benwinterlaw.com or call (727) 822-0100.