Attorneys
Last Updated: 6/29/2023
There are a variety of types of disability benefits provided under workers’ compensation law in Iowa. For example, if a worker is unable to return to his job in Iowa, the worker may receive temporary total disability while recovering or permanent total disability if unable to return to work. If able to return to work in a lesser-paying position, the worker may receive temporary partial disability compensation.
What is temporary partial disability compensation?
Temporary partial disability benefits provide compensation to a worker who is well enough and able to return to work at a lower-paying position than the one he had before the injury. These may follow temporary total disability, which are available if a disability lasts at least three days and prevents the worker from returning to any position.
For instance, a worker may fall from a ladder and suffer a back injury. The worker may require a week off of work to recuperate and is able to go back to work. But the worker may not be able to perform physical labor as he did before the injury. His employer may put him in another position that pays less. In this case, he can recover temporary partial workers’ compensation benefits.
Temporary Partial Disability Calculation
As the name of the disability type implies, a temporary partial disability workers’ compensation benefit only pays part of a worker’s wages for a temporary period of time. A worker’s temporary partial disability benefit amount is 66 percent of the difference between the worker’s average gross weekly wages at the time of injury and the amount of actual earnings at the worker’s lesser-paying job.
So, for example, if the worker earned $1,000 a week before the injury and temporarily returns to work at a position earning $750 a week, he would receive $166.67 in temporary partial disability benefits. The employee is entitled to these benefits on the fourth day of his disability; however, benefits during the three-day waiting period are payable if the disability period extends past 14 days.
Contact an Attorney at Walker, Billingsley & Bair in Iowa
The attorneys at Walker, Billingsley & Bair can help you get the temporary partial disability benefits – or other workers’ comp benefits – you deserve following a workplace injury. For help calculating the benefits you will receive, filing a workers’ compensation claim, or if you believe an insurer or employer is wrongly denying your benefits, call us today at (888) 435-9886 or contact us online.
