Florida Worker’s Compensation: Temporary Wage Benefits
It’s not always easy for worker’s compensation doctors to predict how particular medical treatment may help new patients. After all, each injured worker presents with a unique medical history, unrelated health issues and possible pre-existing injuries. Often during the lengthy evaluation period, many workers become concerned about lost income. Fortunately, the State of Florida requires insurance companies to pay injured workers temporary disability benefits for injured workers who qualify.
As their medical tests, rehabilitation and possible retraining move forward, injured employees should ask their South Florida worker’s compensation attorney to apply for every form of monetary compensation available to them. What follows is a description of the two types of temporary disability benefit programs available to qualified injured workers in Florida.
Temporary Total Disability (TTD) and Temporary Partial Disability (TPD) Benefits
- A. Temporarily Total Disability Benefits (TTD). A worker is only qualified to receive these benefits if his or her worker’s compensation authorized doctor says the individual is unable to work due to his or her work-related injury or illness. When that occurs, “You should receive money equaling 66 2/3% of your regular wages at the time you were hurt, subject to a statewide maximum reimbursement amount.”
Be aware that unless you cannot work due to your work-related injury or illness for more than 21 days, you cannot receive temporary disability benefits to cover the first seven (7) days of your disability (based upon your treating doctor’s evaluation.)
- B. Temporary Partial Disability (TPD). During later treatment stages (sometimes earlier), doctors may tell injured workers that they are able to return to work “with restrictions.” When this occurs, a patient may be entitled to receive Temporary Partial Disability Benefits if that person cannot “earn 80% of the wages” he or she was earning just prior to his or her accident or injury.
Injured Florida worker’s compensation patients “can receive up to a total of 104 weeks of temporary disability benefits.” Both TPD and TTD are based upon your average weekly wage (AWW) earned during the 13 weeks immediately prior to your injury (i.e. – take your total wages and fringe benefits earned during the 13 week period and divide by 13 – this will give you your AWW).
Be sure to ask your lawyer about each type of available benefits – such as Impairment Benefits, Permanent Total Disability Benefits and Death Benefits – depending upon the type of injuries you, a loved one or friend has incurred.
If you’ve suffered a serious worker’s compensation injury, contact the Maus Law Firm to learn more about your rights. The Maus Law Firm has offices in Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach and the Florida Keys, and handles accident and injury claims throughout Miami-Dade, Monroe, Collier, Lee, Broward and Palm Beach counties. You’ll need the help of an experienced South Florida worker’s compensation attorney on your side. Call Toll Free today at: (855) 999-LAWS, or locally at (954) 784-6310.