Workers’ compensation insurers are required, under the law, to issue workers’ compensation checks in a timely fashion. When benefits are owed depends on the type of benefits you are receiving.
Wage Loss and Medical Mileage
- If you are receiving temporary total disability benefits, the checks are required to be paid at the same interval which you would be receiving checks normally from your employer. In other words, if you get your check on a weekly basis then, temporary total disability benefits are to be paid to you on weekly basis.
- If you are receiving temporary partial disability benefits, the checks are to be issued ten days after you have sent your paystubs to the insurance company. If you are relying on the employer to send the checks, then it would be ten days from which the employer is sending the check to the insurance company. You may want to send the paystub on your own and not rely on the employer to send it to make sure that they are sent in a timely fashion.
- Medical mileage is typically issued 30 days after it has been sent to the insurance company. The reason that it is 30 days is that the insurance typically handle it like medical bills for which under the statute they have 30 days to issue payment.
Penalties
If checks have been sent to you untimely or late, a penalty may be assessed against the insurer. A penalty can be brought, at your request, by the Special Compensation Fund with the Department of Labor and Industry. A complaint can be made and an investigation with be undertaken to determine what, if any, checks have been issued late. The Department of Labor and Industry may then issue a penalty which would then be payable to you. In other circumstances, an attorney can also bring a claim for penalties based on the employer and insurer’s failure to issue checks in a timely fashion.
Contact a Minnesota Worker’s Compensation Attorney
If you are having issues with workers’ compensation providing benefits in a timely fashion, please feel free to contact the experienced and knowledgeable attorneys at Mottaz & Sisk to discuss your options.
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