Loss of Wage Earning Capacity (LWEC) benefits are paid to an employee when his treating physician has fully released him from treatment and that employee is not able to earn the same amount of income as he previously earned at the time of his injury. LWEC benefits can be paid for the rest of the employee’s life if that employee is never able to return to work earning the same amount of money as he earned at the time of his accident. This is typically where your real money is in trying to negotiate a lump sum settlement under the LHWCA.

Often once an employee begins to receive LWEC benefits, the employer will try to ‘vocational rehabilitate’ the injured employee to find different work paying as much as possible in an effort to return the employee to his pre-injury wage level. The employer is doing this so that the employer will not have to continuously pay LWEC benefits into the future. It is very important that you make sure your employer is locating actual jobs that you are capable of performing and not simply obtaining a list of jobs so your employer can terminate your LWEC benefits. Also, your employer is often limited to finding jobs within 50 miles of your home.