How Do You Get Paid For Your Time Off of Work?

If you’ve had a compensable injury, the private insurance company (the workers’ compensation carrier) is obligated to pay you for your time out of work.

Generally, you have to have a doctor’s note taking you out of work before any benefits can be paid. That doctor’s note has to be sent to your employer, who sends it to the insurance company, who reviews it and then makes payment.

You’re not entitled to be paid for the first seven days that you’re out of work. But if you’re out of work for more than 21 days, the workers’ compensation carrier has to come back and pay you for the first seven days.

How much are you paid when you are out of work? The workers’ compensation law says that you are not entitled to 100% of your wages, but that you are entitled to receive 67%, or 2/3’s, of your average weekly wage. Your average weekly wage includes any type of bonuses, overtime, or additional money that you earned for the year prior to your injury.

When would your workers’ comp checks stop? There are four reasons, once your checks get started, that they could stop:

1. First, you go back to work;
2. Second, the doctor says that you can return to work without any restrictions.
3. Third, you settle your workers’ compensation case; or
4. The Industrial Commission gives the insurance company permission to stop your checks.

Why would they stop your checks? Perhaps you’ve refused suitable employment; perhaps you’re working under the table; perhaps you are claiming that your injuries are more severe than they are; or perhaps you’re refusing to get medical treatment that your doctor’s have ordered.