Repetitive trauma and workers’ compensation

While most people understand that they are eligible for compensation after an injury sustained while at work, not many people know that injury from repetitive trauma may also qualify under the state’s workers’ compensation laws.

Connecticut’s Workers’ Compensation Law refers to one-time events, like say a slip and fall on a job site that causes a bone break, but also to injuries that happen over time. The Workers’ Compensation Act specifically states that the term injury includes, “in addition to accident injury that may be definitively located as to the time when and the place where the accident occurred, an injury to an employee that is causally connected with the employee’s employment and is the direct result of repetitive trauma or repetitive acts incident to such employment . . .”

In other words, injuries that happen over time, like degenerative disc disease in the spine or even carpal tunnel syndrome, may be covered.

In order to qualify for workers’ compensation from a repetitive injury, a medical professional must be able to conclude that the workplace repetitive trauma was “a significant contributing factor” to the medical condition from which the employee now suffers.

For example, if you are a brick layer and after years of employment suffer from pain in the spine due to disc degeneration, which can be linked to your work laying bricks, you may be eligible for workers’ compensation.

Workers’ compensation provides for the following benefits:

– Medical treatment

– Temporary total disability

– Temporary partial disability

– Permanent partial disability

– Coverage of relapse or recurrence

– Discretionary benefits

– Job retraining

For more information about workers’ compensation and repetitive trauma, read our article on the subject, or contact us with your question.