Indiana Workers’ Compensation Laws

Indiana workers’ compensation laws define what workers’ compensation benefits are available to workers after they suffer an injury or occupational illness at the workplace. Indiana law mandates that employers carry workers’ compensation insurance.

Claims under Indiana Workers’ Compensation Laws

The Indiana workers’ compensation system recognizes injuries occurring from workplace accidents as the primary type of injury that is covered by an Indiana employer’s workers’ compensation insurance. An employer’s workers’ compensation insurance does not, however, cover injuries resulting from an employee’s drug use or alcohol consumption, or because an employee fails to perform a statutory duty.

Occupational illnesses that result from a worker’s coming in contact with hazardous conditions at his job also fall under the workers’ compensation umbrella in Indiana and can be compensated through workers’ compensation benefits. Finally, when an employee’s work-related injury or illness causes his untimely death, his relatives or other dependents are entitled to death benefits.

Indiana Workers’ Compensation Benefits

Workers’ compensation insurance will pay the medical provider directly for all medical treatment necessary to treat the worker’s occupational illness or work-related injury. Such bills may include those for doctor appointments, hospital bills, and prescriptions, among others. Your mileage costs to and from your medical appointments and the wages you lose by going to the doctor’s office or to the hospital may be reimbursed by your employer’s insurer as well.

The following types of replacement income benefits are also offered in Indiana:

1) Temporary Total Disability Benefits (TTD): These benefits will be paid in the amount of 2/3 of the worker’s pre-injury average weekly wage each week while the employee is incapable of working due to his workplace injury or illness.

2) Temporary Partial Disability Benefits (TPD): TPD mandates that 2/3 of the difference between the employee’s current wage and pre-injury wage will be paid weekly if the employee’s injury prevents him from performing his old job duties, but he is able to work in some capacity, albeit at a reduced wage or for less time. TPD payments will be made for up to 300 weeks.

3) Permanent Total Disability Benefits (PTD): The worker’s employment-connected injury or sickness makes it impossible for him to work again. In this situation, the employee will be paid 2/3 of his pre-injury average weekly wage for a maximum of 500 weeks.

4) Permanent Partial Disability Benefits (PPD): When a worker is permanently incapacitated by his injury in some way, but can perform work (for instance, he has suffered the loss of a finger or limb). The employee will be compensated as provided by Indiana statute.

Finally, if an employee ultimately dies from the injury he suffered while on the job or from the disease he contracted at or because of his job, his surviving dependents may receive death benefits to compensate for the loss of his wages. Additionally, the employee’s relatives may receive $7,500 to help pay for the burial.

Indiana Workers’ Compensation Statutes

For more information on Indiana workers’ compensation laws, including the full text of Indiana workers’ compensation statutes, refer to the online version of the Indiana Code.

Employers Subject To Workers’ Compensation: Labor and Employment, Title 22, Art.3, Chp. 9; Covered Employees: Labor and Employment, Title 22, Art.3, Chp. 2; Benefits: Labor and Employment, Title 22, Art.3, Chp. 3; Claims Procedure: Labor and Employment, Title 22, Art.3, Chp. 4.