Workers’ Compensation Law Alaska
A system for protecting injured workers
All fifty states have some version of Workers’ Compensation, though the laws vary widely from state to state.
Workers’ Compensation is:
- No Fault. An injured worker is entitled to benefits regardless of who is at fault, even when it is the employee himself/herself who is at fault, and even when no one is at fault.
- Exclusive. Your recourse when injured at work is almost always limited to Workers’ Compensation claims. You cannot generally sue an employer or fellow worker under negligence or personal injury law.
- Comp pay. When you are away from your job owing to a workplace injury, you are entitled to disability pay.
- Non Taxable. Comp pay is not taxable by the IRS.
- Medical Benefits. Under the Workers’ Compensation system the medical benefits necessitated by your workplace injury should be paid for by your employer’s insurance.
- Retraining Benefits. If a permanent injury prevents you from returning to the kind of work you were previously engaged in, you may qualify for retraining benefits which, in many circumstances, will provide not only the retraining expenses, but also a stipend to sustain you during the retraining process.
- Payment for a permanent impairment. If you experience a permanent disability or impairment you may receive a payment for that loss of capacity.
- Dependents’ Benefits. In the tragic event of a worker’s death the employee’s dependents are entitled to benefits.
Our law office works to maximize your access to all of these benefits.