Workers’ compensation liability, receiving payment

Under workers’ compensation law in Minnesota, all employers are liable for compensation when their employees suffer personal injuries or death while working on the job, unless the injury was the result of intoxication or self-infliction. The compensation amount can be rounded to the nearest dollar, and employers who elect to do that shall round the amounts for all compensation payments. If a company disputes a claim for workers’ compensation, it must prove its case.

When employees are entitled to workers’ compensation, the payments begin when it is determined that they are eligible and at the same times that they usually receive their wages. If the injured workers expect to receive permanent partial disability compensation, they and their employers are sent copies of the medical reports that are used to determine the amount of the payments before the payments commence. These reports are also used to determine whether the employees are entitled to permanent partial or eventual and final disability payments.

Although not at the same time, workers who receive permanent partial compensation may also receive temporary total disability benefits. The payments for permanent partial disability are withheld until the payments for temporary total disability are complete. Injured workers might also be entitled to impairment compensation, which is payable alongside and concurrently with permanent total disability payments. Permanent total, temporary total and temporary partial payments are considered part of the employees’ decline in earning capacity or inability to earn wages.

For example, if an injured employee suffers the permanent impairment or loss of function of a leg and lives for at least 30 days after the time of injury, the individual has may receive compensation for permanent partial disability. These payments could be payable apart from other compensation payments that the employee receives. A lawyer may be able to help an injured worker to file their compensation claim.

Source: The office of the Revisor of Statutes, “2013 Minnesota Statutes“, September 12, 2014