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In Fiscal Year 2020, ending September 30, 2020, there were 45,281 total occupational injuries and illnesses reported to the Kansas Division of Workers Compensation.

You’ve just made your way through the thicket of administrative hurdles that accompany the workers compensation system in Kansas. You’re receiving payment for lost wages due to your temporary or permanent disability, and now you want to know if that money is taxable.

You’re out on workers compensation and recovering from injuries that prevent you from doing your primary job, but what if an employment opportunity arises that you can do despite your injuries and recovery program? Can you take it and still retain your workers compensation benefits?

More than 900,000 cases involving days away from work were reported in the U.S. private sector in 2018. 30% of those injuries — or nearly 273,000 cases — involved musculoskeletal disorders or “ergonomic injuries” involving repetitive stress injuries.

Since the enactment of the 2011 Kansas Workers Compensation Act (KWCA), and the subsequent adoption of the 6th edition of the American Medical Association’s (AMA) “Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment,” workers compensation claims in Kansas have become harder and harder to file and seem to come with much stingier payouts.

To help you understand the new workers compensation claims and payment landscape in Kansas, our team at Slape & Howard has prepared a list of frequently asked questions with corresponding answers so that you can know more about how workers compensation works in Kansas.

Soon, our team at Slape & Howard will be tapping into the Delano neighborhood when we relocate our offices from our longtime location on South Broadway in Wichita to the vacant Aero Plains Brewing space on North Handley.

The workers’ compensation attorneys at Wichita-based Slape & Howard are working with other attorneys and legal groups throughout the state to roll back the onerous new standards that drastically curtail and even deny benefits to workers injured on the job.

The Kansas Workers Compensation Act (KWCA) of 2011 was enacted largely in response to a 2009 State Supreme Court ruling, Bergstrom v. Spears Manufacturing Co. That decision opened the door for workers with specific injuries to claim work disability if they ceased earning wages for any reason, including voluntarily leaving their job.

The attorneys at Slape & Howard here in Wichita are not only dedicated to helping Kansans get back on their feet after personal injuries, disabilities, and workers compensation claims, but they are also fully committed to the local community as a whole.