Filing a Worker’s Compensation Claim in North Carolina:

Report your injury to your Employer and seek out appropriate medical treatment.

Your employer may have a health care provider on your work site and if consistent with your employer’s instructions present yourself to that health provider if appropriate.

If you do not have access to an on-site health provider, your employer may have instructed you to present yourself to a designated health care office in case of work related injuries. If appropriate to the seriousness of your injury, report to that facility.

If there is no employer on-site or designated off-site health care provider, seek medical care appropriate to your medical needs. Depending on your circumstances, appropriate health care may be obtained from your family doctor or a hospital emergency room.

Tell your health care provider that your injury is related to your work and the name of your employer. This information allows the health care provider to bill treatment as a Workers’ Compensation claim.

As soon as possible, inform an appropriate manager of your employer or the owner of your company that you have experienced a work related accident. If you can personally report your injury, do so. If you are unable to report your injury because of your medical condition, have a family member, friend or health care provider notify your employer of the injury as soon as possible.

As soon as practical after the accident, and within thirty days, give written notice to your employer. A simple written statement giving the date of the accident and a brief description of the injury is all that is necessary. If you cannot write the letter, have a friend or family member write it for you and send it to the employer. Keep a copy of the letter for your records.

North Carolina Worker’s Compensation Treatment:
The employer or its insurance company, subject to any Commission orders, provides and directs medical treatment. The Commission may permit the employee to change physicians or approve a physician of employee’s selection when good grounds are shown. However, payment by the employer or carrier is not guaranteed unless written permission to change physicians is obtained from the employer, carrier, or Commission before the treatment is rendered.

The employer makes the initial selection of physician, which may be changed by the state agency.

North Carolina Worker’s Compensation Benefits:
Payments are made for temporary total disability (TTD) in an amount determined by a percentage of the worker's wage, subject to weekly maximum and minimum payment amounts. Payments continue for the duration of the disability.

Payments are made for permanent total disability (PTD) based upon a percentage of the worker's wage, subject to weekly minimum and maximum payment amounts. Payments for PTD continue for the duration of the disability.

Payments for permanent partial disability (PPD) are made based upon a percentage of the worker's wage, subject to weekly minimum and maximum payment amounts. Payments for PPD may continue for up to 300 weeks.

Scheduled awards are paid in addition to total temporary disability benefits starting upon termination of the termination of the TTD benefits. Scheduled awards are not reduced because of receipt of TTD benefits.

Benefits may be available for serious disfigurement of the face, head and body, when no compensation is otherwise payable under the schedule of injuries.

Physical rehabilitation benefits are available. There is no provision for vocational rehabilitation in the worker's compensation law.

With certain constraints and filing deadlines, occupational hearing losses may be compensable.

Death benefits are payable to an employee's surviving spouse, or spouse and children, based upon a percentage of the employee's wages, subject to a cap. A minimum benefit is provided regardless of the employee's earnings. A burial allowance is available.

North Carolina Worker’s Compensation Waiting Period:
The waiting period for compensation benefits is 7 days after the injury has occurred.

Compensation is retroactive if disability continues for more than 21 days from the date of injury.

North Carolina Worker’s Compensation Contact Information:
Pamela Young, Chair
Industrial Commission
4340 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-4340
 (919) 807-2500  (919) 807-2500 or  1-800-688-8349  1-800-688-8349

NOTICE: These questions and answers concern North Carolina 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.