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Georgia Workers’ Compensation Forms – WC-P1, WC-1, and WC-6

This is the second in a series of articles addressing Georgia Workers’ Compensation forms.  If you have not read the first article in this series which gives a basic overview of Workers’ Compensation forms and what they do, we suggest that you start with that article.  This article will focus on Workers’ Compensation forms that you are likely to receive or encounter shortly after you suffer an injury at work.

Panel of Physicians (Form WC-P1, WC-P2, or WC-P3)

The panel of physicians is a document that your employer is legally required to post at the job site.  Your employer is also legally required to explain it to you.  While there are three different types of panels of physicians, the most common is the Form WC-P1 which is a list of at least six doctors.  The basic ideas of the panel of physicians is that you can select a doctor from the doctors listed on the panel to serve as your authorized treating physician in your workers’ compensation claim.  For more information about medical treatment in your Workers’ Compensation claim including your right to choose a doctor off the panel of physicians and your right to change doctors, you can take a look at our series of articles on medical treatment.

Employer’s First Report of Injury (Form WC-1)

The First Report of Injury is the equivalent of an accident report.  When you report a workers’ compensation injury to your employer, your employer should fill out the top half of the Form WC-1 and send it to their insurance company.  Once the form reaches the insurance company, they will begin an investigation of the claim.  After that investigation, the insurance company will complete the bottom half of the Form WC-1 indicating that they have accepted the claim and are paying benefits or indicating that they are denying (controverting) the claim.  If your claim is denied, we recommend that you contact one of our attorneys for a free consultation as soon as possible.

Wage Statement (Form WC-6)

In addition to medical treatment, the primary benefits you receive in a Workers’ Compensation claim are benefits you receive when you are losing earnings because of your injury (temporary total or temporary partial disability benefits) and benefits you receive when you have a permanent impairment from your injury (permanent partial disability benefits).  All of these benefits are paid weekly based on the money that you earned in the thirteen weeks before your injury.  The Form WC-6 Wage Statement provides you with the information that your employer is reporting about what you earned in the thirteen weeks before your injury.

The wages included on this wage statement should be your gross earnings during the thirteen weeks before your injury.  This should include almost any money earned by you including tips, bonuses, per diem, mileage/vehicle reimbursement, etc.  If you have a second or third job, it may need to include the earnings from your other jobs.  Since this calculation affects every temporary total, temporary partial, or permanent partial disability check that you ever receive from your employer or their workers’ compensation insurance company, it is very important that it be done correctly.  If you disagree with the calculation of your average weekly wage, you or a workers’ compensation attorney representing you can request a hearing to have a workers’ compensation judge determine your correct average weekly wage by filing a Form WC-14 Request for Hearing.  The Form WC-14 along with the Form WC-2 and Form WC-3 will be discussed in our next article in this series on Georgia Workers’ Compensation Forms.

What if I have other questions about workers compensation?

Georgia’s workers compensation system can be very confusing.  You have to worry about getting the treatment you need and paying your bills while also worrying about not missing any deadlines that could cause you to lose your right to receive workers compensation benefits.

If you have questions, I would recommend that you try to get answers.  To find out more about how to schedule a time to talk to me about your workers compensation questions, just read this short article.

Jason Perkins is an attorney who specializes in representing injured workers.  He regularly publishes videos and write blog articles about Georgia’s workers compensation system and issues that are important to injured workers and their families.

To be notified of Jason’s new workers compensation videos, subscribe to his Georgia Workers Compensation Video Series channel on YouTube by clicking the subscribe button below.

Brittney-lee orourkeBrittney-lee orourke
05:23 18 Feb 22
Amazing! Jason and his team were very helpful and had the best communication by far. Walked me though every step with great detail and had answers for any question I had. They handled my case better then I could imagine, it was a weird case and they stayed on top of it and kept me updated every step of the way! Highly recommend this Team! Thanks so much to Jason and his Awesome team!-Brittney
China JonesChina Jones
18:58 08 Feb 22
I absolutely love this group of attorneys, when I was at my lowest they did everything they could to help me get justice for my injury. I believe if I were to have never picked my phone up and called the amazing group that helped me I definitely would not have received my idea of rights. If you have an issue and are just not sure please understand that they will help you, stay in contact, answer any question you have, and for sure get you the justice you deserve I thank them from the bottom of my heart and I will definitely refer them to anyone who has been hurt because they most definitely care about their work and clients.
Luv LocsLuv Locs
16:08 15 Jan 22
The entire law office was attentive and responsive to all of my concerns dealing with my workers compensation case.
moombimoombi
21:14 02 Jan 22
If you must get a lawyer involved, you’d do well to work with Jason Perkins and his team at Perkins Studdard Law.They were thorough in gathering information and in sharing all the steps in the workers comp process specific to my case. Jason and the team were responsive to my bevy of questions and concerns.I appreciated the informative videos and consultations provided by Jason over video meetings and multiple phone calls.I hope I’m never injured on the job again. However, if I am and if my employer responds as my previous employer did, I’ll contact Perkins Studdard Law immediately to handle the case.
Dana BessDana Bess
23:57 10 Dec 21
Everyone at Perkins Studdard was kind and professional. They were always extremely responsive and answered all questions that I had and followed up to make sure I had an understanding of what was going on along with emailing videos to explain every step of my case so I would know what to expect and be prepared. Jason is a very genuine person and I trusted him with my case. He answered so many questions for me even before I retained him as my WC lawyer. I highly recommend him and his associates at Perkins Studdard.
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