Patients Must Be Injured on the Job to Claim SSB Injury Benefits

We also asked Almendarez to clear up a topic that often leaves people scratching their heads: when can you claim and qualify for injury benefits? Today, Almendarez broke it down for us, but the key takeaway for anyone looking to claim is that you must have been injured on the job to qualify for those benefits.

 

Dr. Leroy Almendarez, C.E.O., S.S.B.

“Remember you transition from injury to invalidity. How that works is this: and that is why you have to understand that if you get injured on the job, if you get sick on the job, and you make your claim, there’s a period of time for which – it’s twenty-six weeks – after you are assessed to see whether or not you can continue to work because the injury could have made you disabled or unable to work anymore. The illness could also make you unable to work anymore. Then you claim, or make a claim for invalidity and once you make a claim for invalidity, that’s when you get a medical assessment, even the injury. Because remember, some injuries can also be self-caused injury and it must be on the job. If the injury was not caused on the job, then that injury does not really qualify. But you make your claim and that investigation takes place, it’s not just a no. The investigation takes place.”