What is Temporary Total Disability (TTD) in Ohio?
Workers’ compensation covers medical expenses and wage loss in the case of work related injury. This may include Temporary Total Disability Benefits. We will help you determine what rights you have.
Temporary Total Disability (TTD) is a time in which an employee is rendered completely unable to work after sustaining a work related injury. TTD benefits are paid through the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) and act as wage loss benefits.
If you take 7 or fewer days off from work to recover from your work-related injury, BWC will pay for medical expenses, if your claim is allowed. If you need 8 or more days off, BWC will pay for medical expenses as well as wage loss benefits starting on day 8. If 14 or more consecutive days are needed, the BWC will pay you for the first 7 days you had to take off in addition to medical expenses and wage loss benefits. The amount of TTD received will vary depending on your weekly earnings prior to the injury and the statewide maximum.
When an employee returns to work after recovering, TTD benefits cease. This is regardless of whether or not the employee returns to their job where their injury occurred. Any amount of work in which the employee sustained renumeration constitutes as a job. This does not cover one-time jobs or cash work. For example, babysitting one day a week for a family would likely not fit this description.
In order to become eligible for TTD and to receive payments, you must send the BWC a “Request for Temporary Total Compensation” or any similar document. The physician treating your injury must also send the BWC a “Physician’s Report of Workability” or a similar document, and you must supply a history of your wages for the one year period preceding the injury.
A Permanent Total Disability (PTD) has the same benefits as TTD, but they extend for the rest of an injured workers’ life. However, PTD has a different standard. The standard, unlike TTD, is now can the injured worker do any sustained remunerative employment.
At Taubman Law we can help you figure out what benefits you are eligible to receive. We can help you navigate this process and make sure your rights are explained to you by an attorney who is focused on your best interests, instead of relying upon the BWC or the employer’s representative to explain these rights to you. It is the role of your legal representative to be your advocate and aid you in successfully filing a claim through this complicated workers’ compensation system.
—
This post was written by Bruce D. Taubman, a Cleveland attorney who practices workers’ compensation, personal injury and medical malpractice throughout Ohio.
