If you sustained an injury at your Minnesota place of employment, there is a good possibility you are eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. Assuming that you yourself were not in any way grossly reckless at the time of the injury-causing incident, you may receive one or all of three types of benefits: lost wages, medical expenses and vocational rehabilitation. However, according to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, the insurer is not required to pay your wage-loss claim until you lose time from work as a result of your disability. The department refers to the period between injury and your first payment as the waiting period.
It is important to understand how the workers’ comp insurance company calculates the waiting period. For one, it will not pay out your claim until you miss three calendar days of work. However, if your disability continues for 10 calendar days, it will pay you for the entire time you were unable to work. Calendar days must be consecutive, and they do not necessarily have to include workdays.
The first day of your disability is the first day of the waiting period. This includes the day you sustained your injury at work, even if your employer already paid you in full or in part for the hours you worked for that day.
If your disability continues for 10 calendar days or beyond, you will receive benefits for lost wages for the entire time you were unable to work. However, if your disability continues for one to nine days, you will only receive benefits for days three through nine.
If you the only days beyond the waiting period on which you are unable to work are non-workdays (such as Saturday and Sunday or a holiday), you will likely not receive compensation for those non-workdays.
This article is for educational purposes only. It is in no way meant to serve as legal advice.
