In Florida, when you get hurt on the job, you are entitled to two classes of benefits: medical and indemnity or lost wages. Medical treatment starts with the goal of treating the person until they reach a status called maximum medical improvement (MMI). After MMI, the goal is to provide palliative care or pain management. MMI also shifts an injured worker’s entitlement to indemnity benefits. After MMI, temporary wages are cut off. With the exception of rehabilitation temporary total benefits, only permanent indemnity benefits are available.

Severe work injuries are scary. For purposes of this article, “severe” is going to be used when describing a work injury that prevents someone from working ever again, essentially meaning a total disability injury. This is not to diminish other injuries that can also be very bad and difficult for daily life. However, let’s focus on the benefits available after a severe work injury that would prevent someone from re-entering the workforce.

With increasing digitization and the pandemic, work from home (WFH) is not only a trend but a necessity for some. For most employees, remote working opportunities provide better flexibility and a healthier work-life balance. Despite these benefits, employers still have certain duties to their employees.

Since the pandemic has become a long-term phenomenon, offices are counting on incorporating more permanent work from home solutions even after the pandemic subsides.

While disability benefits and worker’s compensation may seem to be the same thing, there is a key difference that separates the two. Worker’s compensation is paid out by an employer when an employee suffers a work-related injury while disability benefits are gained when an employee pays into an insurance program. Both disability benefits and worker’s compensation are for the benefit of workers who have suffered injury.