Vocational Rehabilitation
This benefit is based on a recognition that you
will not be able to return to your pre-injury job. Benefits may be available to
help you train for a new kind of job.
Requirements:
You may be
entitled to Vocational Rehabilitation (Job Training) benefits if:
- A doctor says
you have physical restrictions that prevent you from returning to your
pre-injury job or the job you were retrained to do;
- Your employer at the time you were injured has not
offered you a permanent “light-duty” job you can do with your
restrictions;
- You are unable to
return to work at 80 percent of the wage you were receiving at the time of your
injury.
- You cannot find a job on
your own in your area within your physical restrictions. (Your marketable skills
will be considered.)
Effect of Permanent
Impairment: (NRS
616C.590)
The length and type of program you may qualify for depends
upon the percentage of your permanent impairment (see the section on Permanent
Partial Disability) and your abilities and interests.
(NRS
616C.555(3))
Second
Program:
You may be eligible for a second program if your first
program did not retrain you to a job you can perform within your
restrictions.
(NRS
616C.555(9))
50 Mile
Rule:
Services may be available to eligible workers who live
outside Nevada within 50 miles of the border, or who live in-state but need
benefits out-of-state within 50 miles of the border. You may get services in a
state bordering Nevada if you show that such services are more cost-effective
than in-state.
(NRS
616C.580)
Vocational
Rehabilitation Buyout
Contact NAIW for information if you are
offered a buyout, before you agree to one.
(NRS
616C.595)
You cannot appeal failure to
offer a buyout or the amount of the sum offered but you can negotiate with the
insurance company about the amount of the buyout.
Buyout
Amount:
The minimum lump sum amount you are entitled to varies
with your Permanent Partial Disability evaluation but the insurer is not allowed
to offer less than 40% of the value of the vocational rehabilitation maintenance
benefits you are entitled to.
Out-of State Workers:
If you
live out-of-state (greater than 50 miles from the Nevada border), generally a
buyout is your only rehabilitation benefit.