Injuries are an unfortunate fact of life. No matter how careful and conscientious you are, eventually, you’re going to be injured. It may be your fault, it may be someone else’s, but getting hurt is a secondary effect of simply being alive. When it happens at work, you can file for workers compensation. In this these blogs, we hope to explain how workers comp works. Sometimes we explain little known facets, and others we lay out larger, broader concepts. In this blog, we’ll go over how temp benefits work. If you have any questions about this or similar topics, we recommend you reach out to our workers compensation attorney in Los Angeles CA.
Workers Compensation in Los Angeles CA on Temp Disability
“Temporary Disability” is exactly what it sounds like: you receive benefits for a brief period of time in which you’re unable to work. When you’re hurt on the job and can’t go back to work, this is the optimistic case. We hope that everyone who’s hurt at work is able to return to their job. On top of that, we hope they’re able to return to their job and perform it at the same high level they were previously. When you’re hurt for a brief period of time and unable to work, you should be compensated for that. That’s where workers compensation can come in. We can help you to get temp disability.
Temp Disability Time Frame
When we say “unable to work for a brief period of time,” we don’t mean “after lunch” or “from 9 AM to 4 PM.” What we mean is time taken off from work, when you have to go home or even recuperate in the hospital or elsewhere. That’s time when you’ll be unable to work and really, unable to make money period. That’s what can make these benefits such a life saver: they’re money that comes to you exactly when you need it. After all, when you’re recovering, or laid up in a hospital the last thing you need to focus on is “how am I going to be able to survive financially?” These benefits, paid twice a month, can help you to focus on what truly matters: your recovery.
Temp Disability Qualifications
You can qualify for this in one o two ways. The most common way is that your doctor simply puts you on what’s called “TTD.” “TTD” stands for “Total Temporary Disability.” Then, you’re basically automatically entitled to receive these payments. You don’t have to do anything else. The other way of getting them is a bit more roundabout: your employer is unable to offer you work that acknowledges your restrictions. An example of this would be if you somehow hurt your fingers, and your job was unable to give you some kind of work that didn’t involve typically quickly or carrying things. Then, you would qualify for those temp benefits because there was no other way for you to earn money as you recover.
What Temp Disability is Worth
These benefits are calculated based on your earnings, on what you would have made had you not been injured. Typically, you receive 66% of your average weekly wages when you’re on temp disability. That isn’t as good as making the full money you would have made, but it’s definitely not nothing. These benefits can keep you afloat, allow you to recover without having to be subjected to financial hardship. This is one more part of the process where you want an experience workers compensation attorney on your side. We sit down and determine your average weekly earnings with your employer. By having pro negotiators on your side, it’s one more way you can protect the amount of money you make.
One question we get quite a bit is: “OK, I can get temp disability. However, once I’m better, don’t I have to pay this back eventually?” We’re not exactly sure where this mentality comes from, but no: you don’t have to pay back these benefits. They’re yours. Really, you earned them through working your job before this. You worked hard, you were doing what you were supposed to, and then you were hurt on the job. These are as much your benefits as any health insurance, parking space, or something else that you get for doing your job.
That all being said, it’s important to have an attorney by your side during the workers compensation process. Many companies, doctors and the like try to get people to go back to work without availing themselves of their workers compensation. When you’re hurt on the job, you deserve to be compensated for everything you’ve been through. Our attorneys can help you get what you deserve. Just give us a call at (888) 277-6122 or head to our site to set up a free consultation.
