Does Workers’ Compensation Have A Time Limit?
When you have been injured at work, and your employer offers workers’ compensation benefits, you can breathe a sigh of relief – workers’ compensation means that you and your family will not have to tighten your belts too much while you are recovering. However, many injured workers are not aware at the outset that these benefits do not last forever. In Florida and most other states, workers’ compensation has a time limit – and if you reach it, your options for care may change significantly.
Duration Of Benefits Varies
Most employers in Florida are required to offer workers’ compensation benefits, though small businesses in some industries are exempt. If a worker is injured on the job, they must inform their employer within 30 days of the injury (or from the day they believe the occupational disease set in). If this is done, and the injury is deemed to be compensable, that worker will receive benefits intended to cover their expenses, such as lost wages or medical bills.
Generally, the type of benefits you receive will govern how long you may receive them. For example, someone granted temporary total disability (TTD) benefits will be eligible for up to 104 weeks, while temporary partial disability (TPD) benefits may be terminated earlier, because the implication is that someone who can still partially work may have a less serious injury. If an injury is not sufficiently healed after 104 weeks have elapsed, different options must be considered.
Reaching Maximum Medical Improvement
In order to determine when benefits should be terminated, Florida law recognizes what is known as maximum medical improvement (MMI) – a status one gets when their injury has reached a plateau where it has healed as much as possible. It may not be ‘back to normal,’ but it is unlikely to get better or worse. Most people reach MMI long before 104 weeks have elapsed – but for those who have not, the only options are (1) for benefits to cease completely; or (2) for the worker to seek permanent disability benefits.
If your work injury is serious enough to warrant permanent total disability (PTD) benefits, there is a good chance that those benefits will last during your lifetime. Permanent partial disability (PPD) benefits may cease at some point, if it is found you are able to perform some kind of work, but each case is so individual that to estimate a rough length of time is not really possible. Reaching MMI looks different in every person, even among those who have experienced the same types of injuries.
Contact An Orlando Workers’ Compensation Attorney
If you have been hurt on the job, seeking workers’ compensation benefits is the right thing to do, but you need a knowledgeable and dedicated Orlando workers’ compensation attorney to help ensure that you receive appropriate benefits. The Hornsby Law Group has handled these cases before – let us handle yours. Call our office today to schedule a free consultation.
Source:
leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0400-0499/0440/Sections/0440.09.html
