Do not want to settle

[pas2355]

Hi I have been receiving max worker's comp checks since June 2011. My employer gave me 50 sick days to use to cover my medical and after I use these days I will go back to collecting comp checks and pay for my own medical insurance. I saw the Worker's Comp Dr. who stated in his report that I will never be able to return to my former employment...that I have a marked permanent partial disability but I am not yet at MMI. My PTP suggested I apply for SSDI and research my retirement options. I did get SSDI and will start collecting checks in January. I hope to retire in January as well. Will comp try to make me settle? I would just rather get checks for my maximum number of weeks which is 425 weeks with my injury. Thank you for your opinions. My claim is in New York.

[LeglEgl]

(10-23-2011 03:53 PM)pas2355 Wrote:  Hi I have been receiving max worker's comp checks since June 2011. My employer gave me 50 sick days to use to cover my medical and after I use these days I will go back to collecting comp checks and pay for my own medical insurance. I saw the Worker's Comp Dr. who stated in his report that I will never be able to return to my former employment...that I have a marked permanent partial disability but I am not yet at MMI. My PTP suggested I apply for SSDI and research my retirement options. I did get SSDI and will start collecting checks in January. I hope to retire in January as well. Will comp try to make me settle? I would just rather get checks for my maximum number of weeks which is 425 weeks with my injury. Thank you for your opinions. My claim is in New York.

First of all NEVER, BUT NEVER use vacation time when you have a work-related injury. WC is intended to pay loss of wages during treatment and recovery. It is illegal for the ER to force you to use vacation time. You cannot draw TTD and be on vacation at the same time. Any vacation pay will offset the TTD 100%.

If you plan to retire in January, and you haven't yet taken the vacation time, depending upon your company policy, you may have been able to cash that out (with an offset against WC TTD). If you've already taken the vacation, and drew TTD, then WC will likely offset your TTD.

WC may or may not want you to settle the indemnity (injury) part of the claim, but that won't happen UNTIL you are MMI and the TTD becomes PPD. You don't have to accept a settlement, either. You can elect to continue receiving the TTD or PPD weekly benefits.

If you're on SSDI, there will be an offset, so that you do not draw more than 80% of your AWW as determined at the time of injury/disability. The offset will be in your SSDI, not in the WC payments, since WC is primarily liable for the benefits before SSDI is.

[pas2355]

(10-23-2011 06:58 PM)LeglEgl Wrote:  

(10-23-2011 03:53 PM)pas2355 Wrote:  Hi I have been receiving max worker's comp checks since June 2011. My employer gave me 50 sick days to use to cover my medical and after I use these days I will go back to collecting comp checks and pay for my own medical insurance. I saw the Worker's Comp Dr. who stated in his report that I will never be able to return to my former employment...that I have a marked permanent partial disability but I am not yet at MMI. My PTP suggested I apply for SSDI and research my retirement options. I did get SSDI and will start collecting checks in January. I hope to retire in January as well. Will comp try to make me settle? I would just rather get checks for my maximum number of weeks which is 425 weeks with my injury. Thank you for your opinions. My claim is in New York.

First of all NEVER, BUT NEVER use vacation time when you have a work-related injury. WC is intended to pay loss of wages during treatment and recovery. It is illegal for the ER to force you to use vacation time. You cannot draw TTD and be on vacation at the same time. Any vacation pay will offset the TTD 100%.

If you plan to retire in January, and you haven't yet taken the vacation time, depending upon your company policy, you may have been able to cash that out (with an offset against WC TTD). If you've already taken the vacation, and drew TTD, then WC will likely offset your TTD.

WC may or may not want you to settle the indemnity (injury) part of the claim, but that won't happen UNTIL you are MMI and the TTD becomes PPD. You don't have to accept a settlement, either. You can elect to continue receiving the TTD or PPD weekly benefits.

If you're on SSDI, there will be an offset, so that you do not draw more than 80% of your AWW as determined at the time of injury/disability. The offset will be in your SSDI, not in the WC payments, since WC is primarily liable for the benefits before SSDI is.

The days I am using are a "gift" from my union to keep me on the payroll so I did not have to pay for my health insurance. While using these days I get full pay so I am not collecting Comp checks. They will resume once my days run out. In my award letter from SSDI it states that my worker's comp benefit of $$$$$ would not have any affect on my SSDI benefit. I am glad to know that I will
not have to settle. I'd much rather get payments.

[1171]

once you are at MMI the duration of your disability payments will be based on your impairment rating. until you are formally rated by the state comp board there is no guarantee how many weeks you'll be entitled to.
you are not required to buy out your work comp liability.

[pas2355]

(10-23-2011 08:08 PM)1171 Wrote:  once you are at MMI the duration of your disability payments will be based on your impairment rating. until you are formally rated by the state comp board there is no guarantee how many weeks you'll be entitled to.
you are not required to buy out your work comp liability.

I was reading some old posts and people were saying that their checks were decreased b/c IME said they could do sedentary work. Well my IME said that too but I was getting max benefits and I hope that continues! What do you think?

[NYScomp]

Your comp carrier cannot "make" you settle, but they can make things more difficult for you so that it may seem preferable to settle.

Echoing prior comments, you do NOT want to settle until you have reached MMI. If you settle your case, any and all treatment you receive will be your responsibility to pay for, even if you get worse.

Also, I may be mistaken, but I don't believe you can be classified as PPD of any severity until you have reached MMI. You can have a marked temporary partial disability, but it isn't permanent until you won't improve anymore. And permanency is almost NEVER decided until at least 6 months post injury. Assuming your injury was in June, the soonest that would happen is December. (side note, the disability criteria changes effective Jan 1st. If your dr thinks you have reached permanent impairment in Dec, it might be in your best interest for him to file the MMI report at that time)

Finally, your WC disability payments can be decreased due to an IME doctor's report, but not without a ruling by a law judge


http://www.nyscomp.com

[Cervical_Fusion]

When you do rech MMI your ttd payments will stop. At that time you can be given a rateing and that I believe would start permenant partial disability payments. That ppd percentage will determine how long those payments will last. I think PPD payments will create the need for a social security offset. Untill those PPD payments are disolved. Then ones SSDI would increase back to the full SSDI payments.
I am kind of in the same situation as you., workmans comp has approached my attorney about me setteling. They have based my numbers on 988 full weeks of future payments.(That is assumeing that WC would find me to be 100 percent total and permenantly disabled). I to am receiving Disability Social Security. soo any settlement will have an offset on my social seciruty untill I reach my full SS retirement age of 66 and 4 months. My 988 weeks of payments is based on my life expectancy BWC charts show a males life expectancy to be 74 years of age. And I now know the total value of my claim for future monetary indemnity compensation. But they will take take that toatl amount and reduce it to todays dollars whicc is about 53percent less that the total dollar amount right up front. So if i settle with full medical open they can spread the dollars out over 19 yrs on paper which will have less impact on my social security monthly payments. Hope i have not confused everyone. I just do not know a dollar amount to ask for.. My attorney has given me a suggested dollar amount to try for. but it is a lot less than the present day value of the total claim value at todays dollars, So I am like which way to go. Do i take his suggestion or do i tell him I want more, and him then give me reasons why i should not ask for more... or which way to go....I do not know and the employers attorneys want my answer by Dec 1, so not much time to considering that date is nearing and the holiday this month. I just wish I had someone to personally talk to other than my attorney as a second opinion, to just make myself feel I am doing the best thing for myself.

[chad michaels]

I was involved in an accident while driving an excavator at a job site during an off-union gig. I know the union won't cover me, but can I go after the super? The machine I was driving was faulty, and no safety checks had been done on it in years. I've been told to contact an accident reconstruction attorney that specializes in transportation-related accidents. But I don't want the union to find out.