Filing a Worker’s Compensation Claim in Louisiana:

If you have an accident at work, you must report your accident or injury to your employer within 30 days of the day that it occurs or your right to recover Workers Compensation disability and medical benefits may expire. Because the law does recognize a very few exceptions to the limitation of the time period for reporting your accident, you should contact an attorney for assistance with your claim even if more than 30 days have passed to determine if one of the exceptions may apply.

Don't forget to ask your employer for a copy of your accident report because the report can provide proof to establish the date your accident happened and the date it was reported. Employers are supposed to use a Louisiana Department of Labor Form 1007 (Employer Report of Injury or Illness) to provide the Office of Workers Compensation with information about your accident and claim.

Louisiana Worker’s Compensation Waiting Period:
Your first payment should be paid on the fourteenth day after your employer has knowledge of your injury resulting in loss of income. There is a 7-day waiting period for which you will not be paid benefits. However, if you miss more than 42 consecutive days, you will be paid for the 7-day waiting period.

Louisiana Worker’s Compensation Treatment:
Louisiana employers are required to provide medical care to any employee who is injured in the course and scope of their employment. If your employer refuses to authorize or arrange medical care for you, you should get treatment on your own as soon as possible and have your attorney provide your employer with a copy of the billing information. Delaying medical care may cause your condition to worsen unexpectedly, resulting in substantially more time missed from work.

It's also important that you get a written statement from the doctor about your work-status. You may need to specifically ask your doctor for a note that says whether you can go back to work or not. If the doctor releases you to return to light-duty, the note should outline your restrictions and an estimate of how long those restrictions are expected to last. You may need to provide your employer (or their insurance company) with a copy of the note from the doctor before they will begin your Louisiana Workers Compensation income benefits. Additionally, many employers will not allow you to return to come back to work following a job-related injury without a doctor's note releasing you to unrestricted duty.

Louisiana Worker’s Compensation Benefits:
If you're temporarily totally disabled and unable to return to work of any type, you should receive Louisiana Workers Compensation Temporary Total Disability benefits (often called "TTD") equal to two-thirds of the average weekly wages you were earning at the time of the accident.

Louisiana Workers Compensation Temporary Total Disability benefits are subject to maximum and minimum levels that are adjusted each year.

If you are no longer temporarily totally disabled, but your injury or illness prevents you from earning at least 90% of the income you were earning before your accident, you should receive Supplemental Earnings Benefits (often called "SEB"). 

Permanent Partial Disability Benefits provide minimum levels of benefits for people who experience certain types of serious, disfiguring injuries, even if they don't miss any significant time from work.

Up to 100 weeks of Permanent Partial Disability Benefits may also be paid as a result of serious scarring, hearing loss, vision loss, damage to internal organs or other catastrophic injuries.

Permanent Partial Disability benefits provide a minimum below which the total disability benefits paid to an injured employee may not go. Many people continue to receive one of the other three types of Louisiana Workers' Compensation disability benefits long after their Permanent Partial Disability Benefits have expired.

Most people who qualify for Louisiana Workers Compensation  Permanent Total Disability benefits also qualify for Social Security Disability benefits. It's very important to get legal advice before converting your weekly benefits to a lump-sum settlement because of the impact this can have on your future Social Security Disability and Medicare benefits.

Louisiana Workers Compensation claims for Permanent Total Disability are not as common as claims for Temporary Total Disability or Supplemental Earnings Benefits. The legal standard in Louisiana Workers Compensation Permanent Total Disability claims is higher than the legal standard required in claims for Temporary Total Disability or Supplemental Earnings Benefits. The legal standard is also different than the proof required in other types of disability claims, such as claims for Social Security Disability, Veterans Benefits or Long-Term Disability benefits under a private policy.

Louisiana Worker’s Compensation Contact Information:
Karen Winfrey, Asst. Secy./Dir.
Office of Workers’ Compensation
1001 North 23rd Street
Baton Rouge, LA 70802-3338
 (225) 342-7561  (225) 342-7561 or  1-800-259-5154  1-800-259-5154
(Contact: Gwen Dugas)

NOTICE: These questions and answers concern Louisiana law only, and should not be construed nor relied upon as reflecting the law in other States, nor as giving legal advice. You are warned that circumstances often vary greatly and that, due to changing decisions and law, the answers to these questions may change over time and not be current, and you should consult an attorney in any specific case, and NOT rely on these questions and answers as giving anything other than general information.