If you are injured in an accident that happens while you’re at work or performing your job even away from your actual place of employment, you may need to file for workers’ compensation benefits. Understanding how this might work is important for you, especially so that you know about any potential waiting period. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry provides information about how wait periods may apply to a case.
Disabilities that are expected to be short-term are referred to as temporary disabilities. These may then be segmented into partial or total disabilities based upon the extent of the injuries and what functions are impacted. In either case, there may be an initial period of three days during which workers’ compensation benefits are not available. The first day on which you become disabled counts as the first day of a waiting period. This happens even if you are paid for your work that day.
It is important to note that the waiting period is based upon calendar days which includes non-working days as well as working days. Benefits, however, are only paid for those days on which you would normally have worked. For example, if you are injured and become disabled on a Wednesday, your three-day wait period would run from Wednesday through Friday of that week. If approved for workers’ compensation, your benefits would begin on the following Monday if Saturday and Sunday are you normal days off.
If you want to learn more about how long you may need to wait to receive workers’ compensation, please feel free to visit the injured workers’ benefits page of our Minnesota website.