A workplace eye injury can affect much more than your ability to see clearly. Partial or complete vision loss can interfere with driving, reading, operating machinery, using a computer, working at heights, and performing the job you had before the accident.
If you suffer a work-related eye injury in Delaware, workers’ compensation may pay medical expenses and provide wage replacement while the injury prevents you from working. Delaware workers’ compensation law also provides specific compensation when an injury results in permanent loss of an eye or vision.
At Rhoades & Morrow, our Delaware workers’ compensation lawyers represent injured workers with serious and permanent workplace injuries. Partner Stephen T. Morrow is a former Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Section of the Delaware State Bar Association and has spent decades handling claims before the Delaware Industrial Accident Board.
If a workplace injury has damaged your eyesight or you continue to experience vision problems after an accident, we can help you claim workers’ compensation benefits that apply to your situation and ensure your claim accounts for the injury’s lasting effects.
What Workplace Accidents Can Cause Vision Loss?
Eye injuries can occur in construction, manufacturing, healthcare, transportation, maintenance, laboratories, warehouses, and other Delaware workplaces.
Work-related eye and vision injuries may result from:
- Flying metal, wood, glass, or other debris
- Chemicals splashing into the eyes
- Burns
- Explosions
- Tools or equipment striking the face or eye
- Machinery accidents
- Falls and other blunt-force trauma
- Penetrating eye injuries
- Automobile accidents while performing job duties
- Exposure to hazardous substances
- Head injuries that affect the eye, optic nerve, or areas of the brain involved in vision
Some workplace accidents cause immediate and obvious vision loss. Other injuries may initially cause blurred vision, double vision, blind spots, reduced peripheral vision, light sensitivity, or difficulty focusing.
You do not have to be completely blind for a work-related vision injury to become a significant workers’ compensation issue.
What Types of Eye and Vision Injuries May Be Covered?
The medical consequences of a workplace eye injury depend on how the accident occurred and the severity of the damage.
Work-related conditions may include:
- Corneal injuries
- Retinal injuries or retinal detachment
- Traumatic cataracts
- Optic nerve damage
- Penetrating eye injuries
- Chemical or thermal burns
- Visual-field loss
- Partial blindness
- Complete blindness in one or both eyes
- Vision problems associated with a traumatic brain injury
The initial diagnosis may be only one part of a workers’ compensation claim. An injured worker may require emergency medical attention, surgery, medication, specialist care, corrective devices, or ongoing monitoring before doctors can determine how much vision will return.
What Should I Do After Injuring My Eye at Work?
An eye injury can be an emergency. Protecting your health comes first.
If you suffer an eye injury at work:
- Seek appropriate medical attention. Do not delay emergency treatment for serious trauma, chemical exposure, sudden vision loss, or other significant symptoms.
- Report the injury to your employer immediately. Explain when and how the work accident occurred.
- Follow your doctor’s treatment recommendations. Keep appointments with ophthalmologists or other specialists and follow restrictions involving driving, machinery, screen use, or other activities.
- Document changes in your vision. Tell your medical providers about blurred or double vision, blind spots, light sensitivity, loss of peripheral vision, or other symptoms.
- Pay attention to your workers’ compensation claim. Find out whether the claim has been accepted and whether medical and wage benefits are being paid when applicable.
Delaware employers subject to the Workers’ Compensation Act generally must carry workers’ compensation insurance or qualify as self-insured. The Act generally applies to employment in which at least one employee is engaged.
Once an employer knows of an accident resulting in personal injury, 19 Del. C. § 2313 generally requires the employer to report it to the Delaware Department of Labor within 10 days and provide the injured employee a copy.
How Does Delaware Workers’ Comp Pay for Permanent Vision Loss?
Delaware law specifically provides workers’ compensation for permanent loss of an eye or vision.
Under 19 Del. C. § 2326, complete loss of an eye is compensated at 66 2/3% of wages for 200 weeks, subject to Delaware’s statutory compensation limits. Total loss of use of an eye is treated as equivalent to loss of the eye.
Partial vision loss can also qualify for permanent impairment benefits. Delaware law provides proportionate compensation for qualifying fractional loss of vision based on the degree of permanent loss compared with total loss of use of the eye.
This means an injured worker does not necessarily have to lose all vision in an eye to receive permanent partial disability benefits.
The percentage of permanent vision loss generally requires a medical evaluation once the injury has stabilized enough to assess the lasting impairment.
What Is a Permanent Vision Loss Claim Worth in Delaware?
There is no single dollar value for every workplace vision-loss claim. For complete loss of an eye, Delaware law establishes the 200-week scheduled benefit described above. Actual compensation depends in part on the worker’s wages and the applicable statutory compensation rate.
For partial vision loss, the extent of permanent impairment becomes especially important because compensation may be proportional to the percentage of vision lost.
A workers’ compensation claim may also involve other benefits, including:
- Medical expenses
- Temporary disability and lost wages
- Partial disability if you return at reduced earning capacity
- Permanent impairment benefits
- Potential vocational rehabilitation
- Other benefits that apply to the circumstances of the injury
A serious vision-loss claim therefore should not necessarily be evaluated by looking only at the permanent impairment payment.
Is Permanent Vision Loss Different From Lost-Wage Benefits?
Yes. Delaware workers’ compensation provides different benefits for different consequences of a workplace injury.
You may receive medical treatment while recovering, temporary total disability benefits while unable to work, and later receive separate compensation for permanent vision loss.
Returning to work does not necessarily mean your workers’ compensation claim is finished.
For example, you may return to the same job and wages but still have medically established permanent loss of vision in one eye. The question of permanent total disability is different from whether you continue to lose wages.
Delaware law also treats permanent vision-loss compensation differently for purposes of the initial waiting period. Under 19 Del. C. § 2321, compensation for permanent injury relating to vision loss, along with medical and hospital services, is payable from the first day of injury.
What Medical Benefits Are Available for a Workplace Eye Injury?
Under 19 Del. C. § 2322, Delaware workers’ compensation can pay reasonable medical expenses required because of a compensable work injury.
Depending on the condition, medical care may include:
- Emergency treatment
- Ophthalmology or optometric care
- Diagnostic testing and imaging
- Medication
- Eye surgery
- Treatment for retinal damage
- Follow-up examinations
- Corrective or assistive devices
- Treatment for associated facial or head injuries
- Other reasonable medical treatment related to the accident
Delaware law generally gives injured workers the right to choose a healthcare provider certified to treat patients within the state’s workers’ compensation system.
Delaware workers’ compensation rules may also reimburse qualifying travel expenses associated with medical care.
Can I Receive Workers’ Compensation If I Can Still Work After Losing Vision?
Potentially, yes. Permanent disability benefits and wage-loss benefits address different effects of the injury. An employee may have permanent vision loss even after returning to the same job at the same earnings.
For other injured workers, vision loss can prevent a return to the previous occupation.
That can be particularly significant for jobs requiring:
- Commercial or frequent driving
- Operating heavy machinery
- Working at heights
- Precise hand-eye coordination
- Detailed visual inspection
- Reading gauges or instruments
- Working around moving equipment
- Depth perception or peripheral vision
- Other safety-sensitive duties
If you can return to work only in a lower-paying position because of injury-related restrictions, temporary partial disability benefits may become relevant.
Under 19 Del. C. § 2325, qualifying partial disability benefits are generally based on 66 2/3% of the difference between pre-injury wages and post-injury earning capacity and may be payable for up to 300 weeks, subject to Delaware law.
What If Permanent Vision Loss Prevents Me From Returning to My Job?
Some injured workers can continue in their occupations with vision loss. Others cannot safely perform the same work.
If permanent restrictions prevent you from returning to suitable employment, vocational rehabilitation may become relevant to your workers’ comp claim.
Under Delaware’s workers’ compensation system, vocational rehabilitation can include services intended to help qualifying injured workers return to suitable employment. Whether rehabilitation is appropriate depends on your medical condition, restrictions, work history, skills, and other circumstances.
More severe injuries may also raise questions about ongoing disability benefits when the worker remains unable to earn wages.
The effect of vision loss on your actual occupation matters. Losing vision can have very different employment consequences for a heavy-equipment operator, commercial driver, electrician, healthcare professional, office employee, or worker performing detailed technical tasks.
What If My Vision Problems Were Caused by a Head Injury?
Not every work-related vision problem begins with direct trauma to the eye.
A blow to the head, fall, vehicle collision, or other traumatic event can cause visual symptoms associated with a concussion, traumatic brain injury, neurological damage, or injury to the optic pathways.
Symptoms may include:
- Blurred or double vision
- Light sensitivity
- Difficulty focusing
- Loss of peripheral vision
- Problems tracking moving objects
- Visual-processing difficulties
When an injured worker suffers both a head injury and changes in vision, medical evaluation may need to address the full extent of both conditions.
What If Only One Eye Was Injured?
A serious injury to one eye can still qualify for substantial workers’ compensation benefits.
Delaware law specifically compensates complete loss or loss of use of an eye and provides proportional compensation for qualifying partial loss of vision.
Even when the other eye retains normal vision, losing vision in one eye can affect depth perception, peripheral awareness, coordination, and the ability to perform certain jobs safely.
That is why a workers’ compensation claim may need to consider both the medically established permanent impairment and how the injury affects your ability to work.
What If I Already Had Problems With My Vision?
A pre-existing eye or vision condition does not automatically prevent a workers’ compensation claim.
Medical history can become particularly important if you wore corrective lenses, underwent previous eye surgery, already had reduced vision, or had another diagnosed condition before the workplace accident.
The issue may be whether the work-related injury caused a new condition or produced an additional loss of function.
Medical records showing your vision before and after the accident, diagnostic testing, specialist evaluations, and physician opinions can matter if the insurance company disputes how much of your impairment is work-related.
What If the Insurance Company Disputes My Vision Loss Claim?
Workers’ compensation cases involving vision loss can be disputed for several reasons.
The insurance carrier may question:
- Whether the accident occurred at work
- Whether the visual impairment was caused by the workplace injury
- Whether additional medical treatment is necessary
- Whether surgery is related to the accident
- Whether you can return to your regular job
- Whether the vision loss is permanent
- The percentage of permanent impairment
- Whether symptoms are related to an associated head injury
- Whether a pre-existing condition caused your current limitations
When a dispute cannot be resolved, an injured worker can file an appropriate petition with the Delaware Industrial Accident Board.
Medical records, specialist opinions, diagnostic findings, employment evidence, and testimony about how the injury affects your work may become important depending on the issue.
Stephen Morrow has represented injured Delaware workers before the Industrial Accident Board for decades and has taught other Delaware attorneys about Board procedure, medical treatment issues, and workers’ compensation law.
How Long Do I Have to Report or File a Workplace Eye Injury?
Report your work injury to your employer immediately.
Under 19 Del. C. § 2341, if the employer does not already have actual knowledge of an accidental injury, notice generally must be provided within 90 days after the accident.
That notice requirement is different from the deadline for pursuing workers’ compensation benefits.
For accidental injuries, 19 Del. C. § 2361 generally requires an agreement regarding compensation or an appropriate proceeding to be initiated within two years after the accident. Different limitations can apply to an occupational disease and certain other circumstances.
Do not wait for doctors to determine whether vision loss is permanent before reporting the accident.
When Should I Contact a Delaware Workers’ Compensation Lawyer About Vision Loss?
Consider speaking with an experienced workers’ compensation attorney if:
- You suffered partial or complete vision loss
- Your vision has not returned to its pre-injury level
- You need eye surgery or significant medical treatment
- You cannot perform your regular job
- Vision loss prevents you from driving or operating equipment
- Your employer cannot accommodate your restrictions
- You returned to work at lower earnings
- Your work-related accident also caused a head or brain injury
- The insurance carrier disputes your medical treatment
- A pre-existing condition is being used to challenge the claim
- Your doctor believes your vision loss is permanent
- There is a dispute over your impairment rating
- The insurance company wants to reduce or terminate benefits
- Your workers’ compensation claim has been denied
- A petition must be filed with the Industrial Accident Board
- You are considering a lump sum settlement
A skilled workers’ compensation attorney can help injured workers understand the benefits at issue, develop the medical evidence supporting a permanent vision claim, communicate with insurance companies, and represent clients when claims become disputed.
Get a Free Consultation With an Experienced Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
Stephen T. Morrow is a former Chair of the Delaware State Bar Association Workers’ Compensation Section and Past President of the Delaware Trial Lawyers Association. He has represented injured Delaware workers for decades and continues to teach and participate in Delaware workers’ compensation legal education.
For our clients, that experience means having a law firm that understands how medical treatment, permanent impairment, wage loss, and employment restrictions can interact in serious Delaware workers’ compensation cases.
Rhoades & Morrow represents injured workers throughout Delaware from our offices in Wilmington, Newark, Milford, and Lewes.
If a workplace eye injury or vision loss is affecting your medical care, income, or ability to keep working, contact us to discuss your Delaware workers’ compensation claim.
Take the First Step. Contact Rhoades & Morrow today for a free initial consultation.
