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Workers’ Compensation

Every employer in Massachusetts is required by law (G.L.c. 152) to carry workers’ compensation insurance that protects employees from any physical or mental injury occurring at work that leads to disability and/or the need for medical treatment.

Helping secure the basic rights of workers

The Massachusetts workers’ compensation law is a wage compensation insurance system that replaces the worker’s lost wages so long as the worker remains disabled from earning the same wages he/she earned prior to the industrial accident. Replacing lost wages and providing medical benefits to aid the injured employee’s recovery from the injuries sustained in the work accident constitutes the bulk of workers’ compensation benefits under the Massachusetts worker’s compensation law.

Some Current Workers’ Compensation Rights

  • Temporary total weekly disability benefits of 60% of one’s average weekly wage as calculated for 52 weeks (or less) immediately prior to the industrial accident
  • Temporary partial weekly disability benefits of 60% of the difference between what one could earn prior to the injury and what one could earn after the injury
  • Medical benefits including, with limited exceptions, the right to treat with a doctor(s) of one’s choice
  • Reimbursement for all out-of-pocket expenses incurred as a result of the industrial accident
  • Reimbursement for any permanent loss of function to any body part/structure
  • Reimbursement for any scarring to the hands, face or neck
  • Reimbursement for any disfigurement other than scarring
  • Vocational rehabilitation (retraining) in the event that the injured employee cannot return to his/her former job as a result of the industrial accident