Category: Workers Compensation

In Workers Compensation cases, an injured worker is free to leave Alaska while he is drawing benefits.  However his compensation rate (how much he is paid for temporary total disability) will be adjusted for cost of living.   To check the exact adjustment, go to the Workers Compensation Board's website, http://labor.state.ak.us/wc/home.htm.  In the right hand side there is a menu.  Go to "Bulletins".  In the Bulletins section, look for the most recent bulletin regarding "Cost of Living Adjustment for Recipients Residing Outside of the State of Alaska".  Currently that is Bulletin No 11-02.  Your rate will be determined by the city which you live in or to which you are closest.

Effective January 1, 2013, the rate for reimbursement for workers compensation travel to medical appointments has been increased to 0.565 per mile.  When you request reimbursement for travel from the insurance company, you need to accumulate $100 worth of reimbursements and you need to prepare a log showing the date of travel, the places traveled from and and to and the distance.

If you were injured at work, and you think someone is following you around, you're not paranoid. Insurance companies routinely hire private investigators to follow injured workers around, videotape and photographing them. In the cases I've handled, I've discovered photos and video of my clients going to doctors visits, going to the grocery store, pumping gas, hardly suspicious activity. So talk to your friends and neighbors and if you see someone sitting in a car in your neighborhood, go up to them, introduce yourself, ask their names and call a lawyer. The insurance company is preparing to controvert your claim.