The 4 Types of Disability Benefits for Workers' Compensation
Accidents happen, and sometimes employees are injured and cannot return to work immediately. It’s important to understand your claim benefits. Workers' Compensation disability benefits provide a portion of your income while you’re unable to work due to a work injury. The type of injury that was sustained (temporary or permanent) will determine your benefit. Below are the 4 types of disability benefits:
1. Temporary Total Disability
This is when an employee temporarily cannot perform any of their regular work duties while they are recovering. After the recovery period, the worker can return to work. The state the employee works in sets the benefits received. Some states may place limits on the dollar amounts a worker receives.
2. Temporary Partial Disability
This occurs when an employee is unable to perform all of their regular duties. Since the employee cannot perform their complete job, the Employer does not pay them their complete salary. TPD benefits will compensate for the lower income and vary from state to state. This is calculated by the difference between the employee’s regular salary and their lowered income during recovery.
3. Permanent Total Disability
An employee suffers an injury that permanently prevents them from working in the capacity in which they were trained. Depending on the State in which the benefits are coming from, they may provide the worker with lifetime benefits or stop at retirement age. However, most states pay benefits based on nature and severity of the injury, and length of time varies from state to state.
4. Permanent Partial Disability
An employee is able to return to work but has some permanent impairment which prevents the employee from working as they did before the injury. This means the worker often can work in a different role but typically earns less than they would have made prior to the injury.
The type of Permanent Partial Disability will determine how the benefit is paid. The two types of Permanent Partial Disabilities are:
- Schedule loss of use, covers lost body parts (i.e. finger, etc.). Benefits are paid by set number of weeks based on the body part.
- Non-Schedule covers all other injuries (i.e. earring loss). Benefits are paid based on the employees earning capacity.
Not sure what your states benefits are? If you or your employee are injured and you’re not sure of your Disability Benefits, reach out to us to learn more!
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