How Long Do Workers’ Compensation Benefits Last in Minnesota?

If an employee is unable to work due to a work-related injury, the employee is entitled to wage replacement benefits (or “temporary total disability benefits”). At most, an employee can collect temporary total disability benefits for 130 weeks.[1] However, insurers usually try to stop paying benefits earlier. Once a workers’ compensation insurer has begun paying temporary total disability benefits, it must claim that it has an allowed reason to stop paying.[2] Common reasons that insurers use to stop paying temporary total disability benefits are listed below.[3]

                The employee has returned to work: Of course, an insurer will not continue to pay temporary total disability benefits to an employee that is working. However, if that employee is earning less money because of the injury, the employee should be paid temporary partial disability benefits.

                The employee has no work restrictions: This can be shown when the employee’s doctor releases the employee to return to work with no restrictions. Insurers sometimes try to show this by having the employee evaluated by a different doctor, chosen by the insurer. Employees often dispute this type of medical opinion.

                The employee does not look for work: If an employee still has some work restrictions, but is not restricted from all types of work, then the employee is supposed to look for work within those restrictions. An insurer may suspend temporary total disability benefits while an employee that could work is not looking for work.

                The employee turned down a job offer: An insurer can sometimes stop paying temporary total disability benefits to an employee that refused a job offer. The insurer has to prove that the employee was physically able to do the job (usually this means that the job does not require the employee to do anything outside of his or her work restrictions). The insurer also has to prove that the refusal was unreasonable (it usually would be reasonable to refuse a job that would require the employee to move, or for which childcare is unavailable).

                The employee has known his or her injury would not get better for three months: Doctors that treat work-related injuries in Minnesota will eventually say that the employee is at “maximum medical improvement” or “MMI.”[4] This means that the doctor does not expect the injury to heal anymore. The insurer will then mail a form to the employee that says the employee has reached MMI. 90 days later, the insurer may stop paying temporary total disability benefits. Insurers sometimes try to show this by having the employee evaluated by a different doctor, chosen by the insurer. Employees often dispute this type of medical opinion.

If an insurer claims that it has a reason to stop paying temporary total disability benefits, the insurer cannot just stop paying. The insurer has to first mail the employee a Notice of Intention to Discontinue Workers’ Compensation Benefits. The Employee has the right to dispute the discontinuance of benefits. If the insurer cannot prove the reason that it gave for the discontinuance, then the court will order the insurer to continue paying benefits.

[1] Minn. Stat. § 176.101, Subd. 1(k).

[2] Minn. Stat. § 176.101, Subd. 1.

[3] Less common reasons include failure to cooperate a rehabilitation plan, unreasonable refusal of medical treatment, and withdrawal from the labor market.

[4] "’Maximum medical improvement’ means the date after which no further significant recovery from or significant lasting improvement to a personal injury can reasonably be anticipated, based upon reasonable medical probability, irrespective and regardless of subjective complaints of pain.” Minn. Stat. § 176.011, Subd. 13(a).