In Minnesota, you can receive wage-loss benefits called Temporary Total Disability if you cannot work at all for a period of time due to a workplace injury. This is one of four wage-loss benefits available to injured workers. The other three are Permanent Total Disability, Permanent Partial Disability, and Temporary Partial Disability.
To receive Temporary Total Disability (TTD) benefits, you must have been injured to the point that you cannot perform work at your job for some length of time. Unlike Permanent Total Disability benefits, TTD benefits are not intended to last until retirement. You can receive TTD benefits for 130 weeks at the most, unless you take an approved retraining program.
Minnesota workers may receive TTD benefits of two-thirds of their gross weekly wage at the time of injury, with minimum and maximum weekly limits. For dates of injury October 1, 2013 or later, Minnesota law requires that insurance companies pay TTD benefits of no less than $130 a week or the actual wages you would have earned in a week, whichever is less. The maximum benefit amount is 102 percent of the statewide average weekly wage for the period ending December 31 of the preceding year.
Effective Oct. 1, 2017, Minnesota’s statewide average weekly wage is $1,041. In other words, your TTD benefits will be anywhere from $130 to $1061.82 per week subject to cost of living adjustments. Insurers should pay Temporary Total Disability benefits at the same intervals as you received wages from your employer. If you were paid every other week, you should receive TTD benefits every other week.
TTD benefits may end for a variety of reasons, discussed in the next blog. The goal of TTD benefits is to enable you to support yourself while injured so that you can return to work. While the amount you receive in TTD benefits may not equal the wage you would have earned at work, they give you a safety net to rely on.
Need help getting Temporary Total Disability benefits after your workplace injury? Joe Osterbauer, Esq. and the Osterbauer Law Firm stand up for injured Minnesota workers’ rights. Joe’s 27 years of workers’ compensation experience and his team’s speedy service combine to get clients the results they need. To schedule a free consultation, visit Osterbauer Law Firm online or call Joe’s office at (612) 334-3434.
