Rates Change Annually
It might seem confusing at first. Each year, the amount available as far as temporary disability benefits changes. If your accident occurred in 2015, your rate stays the same even if your disability causes you to stay out of work in 2016. In fact, the rate stays the same for the entire duration of your disability. You can take a look at the benefit rates as presented in this chart.
The same is true if you are awarded permanent disability benefits. The court uses the year in which your injury occurred to determine the minimum and maximum payments that will be made to you.
Steps in Determining the Applicable Rate
Do you want to determine the rate that applies to your circumstances? Here are the steps that will be used by the workers’ compensation insurance company:
- Has an authorized medical provider ordered you to stay out of work? Some people refer to this physician as the company doctor. It most likely is not enough that your family doctor does not feel you should go to the work. This decision must come from the authorized medical provider.
- Have you been authorized to stay out of work more than seven days?
- What is the average of your gross weekly wages for the last twenty-six weeks?
- What is seventy percent of that average?
- You can expect to receive seventy percent of the average per week, unless the amount is more than $871 for a 2016 accident. This is the maximum amount available for temporary disability benefits for an accident that occurs this year.
- The minimum you can expect to receive for temporary disability benefits for a 2016 accident is $232 weekly.
Contact Us
At the Law Offices of Anthony Carbone, we have represented injured workers for many years. If you were hurt at work, we would like to help you. We recognize that some of our clients are confused concerning the workers compensation benefits process. Contact us to determine your legal rights.