When You Can’t Go Back: How to Build a Workers’ Comp Case for a Total Career Loss in North Carolina

When an injury ends your ability to return to your old occupation, the stakes are high. In North Carolina, workers’ compensation can replace a portion of lost income, fund medical care, and support retraining, but only if the record proves why your career is over and what you need going forward.

At Ramsay Law Firm, P.A., our Charlotte workers’ compensation attorneys can help you create a roadmap that explains how to document permanent limits, establish loss of wage-earning capacity, and pursue full, lawful compensation.

Confirm Permanent Restrictions with Medical Evidence

A strong case begins with clear, specific restrictions from your treating physician. Ask for written limits on lifting, standing, walking, overhead reach, fine motor use, and driving. Make sure the notes explain the clinical basis for each limit and whether the restrictions are permanent.

A Functional Capacity Evaluation can translate symptoms into objective data. If the insurer relies on its examiner, consider an independent second opinion and obtain a detailed narrative that ties your condition to the work injury.

Prove Loss of Wage-Earning Capacity

Total career loss is not only about what you cannot do. It is about what the labor market will not reasonably allow you to do with your restrictions, training, and education. Vocational rehabilitation evidence is critical. A credible expert should review your work history, skills, and local job availability, then explain why proposed roles are unsuitable or unattainable.

Keep a documented job search log, including applications, rejections, and required physical demands. Good faith effort paired with medical limits shows that the problem is capacity, not motivation.

Choose The Right Benefit Path

North Carolina law offers several routes, and picking the wrong one can cost real money. Temporary total disability pays two-thirds of your Average Weekly Wage, typically up to 500 weeks, with the possibility of extension if you prove a total loss of wage-earning capacity. Specific catastrophic injuries qualify for lifetime benefits.

Ratings to scheduled body parts may be available, but you may have the right to elect wage loss instead if it is more favorable. Our attorneys can compare options under your facts, including whether partial disability or continued total disability best preserves long-term value.

Build The Damages Record For Full Compensation

Full compensation in a career-ending case includes more than checks. It should reflect accurate income, complete medical care, and future needs. Confirm your Average Weekly Wage using payroll records, overtime, and bonuses. Preserve all medical bills, therapy notes, injection records, and surgical reports.

Price future care such as imaging, injections, arthroscopy, pain management, durable medical equipment, and home or vehicle modifications if needed. Track mileage, out-of-pocket expenses, and unpaid caregiving time. If permanent limits prevent any return to gainful work, your file should explicitly say so.

Consider Settlement Timing and Structure

Settlements should follow, not precede, a clear medical and vocational picture. Evaluate whether a clincher settlement or continued weekly benefits is wiser. Address Medicare set-aside needs, potential Social Security Disability offsets, and future medical exposure. The goal is a resolution that truly covers what you will face in the years ahead.

Ramsay Law Firm, P.A., helps injured workers throughout North Carolina prove total career loss and secure the full benefits the law allows. If you cannot return to your occupation, we can build the evidence, confront insurer tactics, and guide you toward a future you can live with.

Contact our Mecklenburg County workers’ compensation attorneys at (704) 376-1616 or online for a free consultation.

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