How Much Temporary Disability Can You Receive in Your Work Comp Case?

How Much Temporary Disability Can You Receive in Your Work Comp Case?

Hi everyone! Dustin here from lawatyourside.com.

A question I commonly get is how much temporary disability am I entitled to in my workers' compensation case?

So you're going along, you get injured, and the doctor says, "You can't work anymore until you're healed up." So he starts giving you physical therapy or giving you other kinds of treatment and you're off of work now. So you're entitled to what's called temporary disability and its disability payments to help you while you're temporarily off of work. Now, you don’t get your full salary necessarily while you're off work. What you do get is two-thirds of your weekly wage. So whatever you're making per week at your work place, generally speaking, you're entitled to two-thirds of that. So you get treatment, you can get two-thirds of your weekly wage while you're getting treatment and getting better.

Now, who pays for that? Is it the insurance company, workman's comp? Generally, it is. If they have accepted your case and you're treating, then generally they will pay for the temporary disability. Now, if they have denied your case, then they may not pay. In fact, they’re not required to pay for the temporary disability. What you would do instead then is apply for EDD State Disability, and state disability will instead pay at two-thirds of the weekly wage rate. This is designed so you can get some money and you don't starve while you're injured and you're getting treatment and getting better.

Now, how long can you receive temporary disability for? Now, there are different rules depending on when the injury was and the types of injury, but almost always, you're entitled up two years of temporary disability. Again, that's assuming you're treating, assuming you haven't reached what's called a PNS or a plateau during the two-year period. You're entitled up to two years of temporary disability, meaning you could be off of work for up to two years and still obtain temporary disability. If you're getting EDD State Disability, generally they pay out only for one year. So you can get one year of disability while your case is denied or what not. After that though, they will generally stop paying. So there are different options and different strategies to approach your case after that happens, but generally speaking, know that you can get again two years of temporary disability or one year of EDD State Disability.

Now, there are certain exceptions such as if you have an amputation or things like that, you may be able to get beyond the two-year cap, but most cases, you're going to be capped out at two years, and I would say even most cases usually don't hit the two-year cap anyway. Usually, after a few months, six, nine months a year, maybe little over a year, you've reached what's called permanent and stationary status and the temporary disability period will generally stop at that time, but of course, it depends on the case and depends on varying factors within the case.

Back to the wages real quick, I said you get two-thirds of your weekly wage. First of all, it's the gross amount of money you are receiving, not the net. So before they deduct the taxes, it's the gross amount. Also, you're entitled to what's called remuneration benefits, meaning if you are getting paid health insurance or you got your cell phone paid or things like that, that would increase your weekly wage because it's a benefit that you were receiving. So make sure you also include those or calculate those in your weekly wage.
If you want further assistance with your work-related injury or you want to talk to a lawyer and get your questions answered or you want us to represent you in your workers' compensation case, please feel free to give us a call at the number below or click the link below and fill out the submission form, and we will do our best and work our hardest to ensure that we give you all the benefits that you are entitled to under the law. And we hope you have a smooth, efficient case that runs through so you can get back to your healthiest that you can be and also receive all the benefits that you're entitled to. Thanks so much.