The Second Injury Fund (SIF) is unique in all the United States and was designed for the State of Missouri to provide various funds to help injured workers under certain circumstances. The Second Injury Fund is currently undergoing numerous problems. In fact, the attorney general announced in late 2009 that the Second Injury Fund was essentially out of Funds and would no longer make voluntary payments. This means that if you are entitled to Second Injury Funds, you will have to take your case all the way to trial in order to have a workers’ compensation judge order the Second Injury Fund to pay you. Also, there is currently (as of Spring 2011) a bill being processed in the Missouri Legislature to do away entirely with the Second Injury Fund.
The Second Injury Fund is supposed to give injured workers payments for increased disability resulting from the combination of a work-related injury and a pre-existing disability, whether work-related or not. These payments include Permanent Partial Disability payments for injuries and payment for permanent total disability if the combination of a work-related injury and pre-existing injuries result in an injured worker being unable to further compete on the open labor market.
The Second Injury Fund is also theoretically supposed to provide certain benefits when an employee is killed in the line of duty by paying burial and death benefits. The Second Injury Fund provides limited benefits to employees for rehabilitation from a work injury, benefits from secondary job loss and is supposed to provide limited medical payments when your employer is supposed to have Workers’ Compensation insurance, but doesn’t.
No Recovery, No Fee!
The Hein Law Firm accepts injury cases on a contingency basis. This means you only pay attorney's fees if we get you compensation. For a free consultation with a lawyer, call us at (314) 645-7900, or contact us online.