Broke Hand in Texas

[TexasPeanut]

Hi forum.

I am a little overwhelmed with the info on this site. I do appreciate it though.

My story: I am an employee of a large county in Texas. I broke my hand at work that required pins to be placed in my hand. I have been off of work for about 2 weeks now waiting for the surgery, which took place a few days ago. The doctor has me off of work until mid-July, but I'm not sure how I can afford that. I heard you get paid less than your usual salary. I have talked to the adjustor and gave a recorded statement, that's about it so far...

Can anyone give me some direction on the process to expect? I've heard the numbers game they play with salary and it confuses me. I've been told of a lump sum settlement at some point, but I don't know when.

I, by far, don't have the injuries some of you have, but many of you have dealt with these people and won and know much more than I. I'm scared and don't want to get screwed over...

Thanks for your time and help.

[AQA]

Forget the word settlement. Texas has a unique way of handleing WC. You should be receiving 70% of your weekly pay. That will be close to what you were making fore hand. Your WC payment (known as TIBS) is not taxed. You are not the only one from Texas here. Others will repy. I am sorry to see you here, but please feel free to ask any questions.

Take Care

[hurt at work]

welcome to this awsome site.sorry about ur hand.it sounds like they are taking care of you the rite way.i hope they dont play games with you.as long as they dont mess you around you will be fine,if they start messing around be sure to come back and ask all you want.

[TexasPeanut]

Thanks for the replies.

1. Are you saying that there is no settlement in Texas, only the 70%? I thought they settled with you at some point or gave you a disability rating and a lump sum. Hopefully, Texas being unique is a good thing.

2. Can I go back to work whenever I want or does the doctor HAVE to clear me? 70% of my salary may not be enough if my math is right. I was thinking of going back to work this week since it's been 2 weeks, although my hand still hurts pretty bad.

3. Who determines my disability rating?


Thanks all. Have a good morning.


*One finger typing is tough, time for a break.

[hurt at work]

i dont aqa was saying that you wont get a settlement some time down the road,but i dont know ur work comp laws.rite now is not the time to time about settling your not healed yet and you may need more dont in the future.the dr is the only one that can tell you when you can go back to work and what ur rating will be along with ur restrictions.dont rush thing and get hurt even worse.

[AQA]

If you have been off work for two weeks, then you probably haven't received any monitary benifits yet. You should in the next few days. The first week of benifits is held back. You would receive that weeks pay if you are off work for eight weeks. As far as your questions.

1) TIBS, 70% of of your pre-injury wages. I know that you are salary, but it should not be any different that if you were hourly. Lets say that 13 weeks prior to your injury you were making $19.00 per hour and working 40 hours per week. Your average weekly wage would be $760.00. $760 X 70% = $532.00. $760.00 - SSA - Fed. Income Tax = $540.00 (roughly, depending on claimed exemptions).

2) NO. You can not go back to work with out a DRS. O K.. Well, let me retract that statement and put it this way. Yes, you can go back to work at anytime you want, however, you will be jepordizing your wc claim. If an individual is injured and a dr. has taken that indiviual off work, and that individual goes back to work anyway. Isn't that the same as the individual saying that there is nothing wrong with him/her???? And if it is, isn't it the same as the individual saying that a WC claim should have never been filed????

3) Disability rating = Impairment rating = IIBS. MMI = Maximum Medical Improvement. Once your treating dr. has stated that you have reached MMI OR two years after the date of the injury. You will be seen by a DD. ( oops, I forgot to add DD at the begining of this. DD = designated DR.. It is a state seleted dr.) That dr will rate your level of impairment if you have one. Not all injured people have an impairment. Lets say that you do have an impairment. Lets say that the DD says you have a 5% impairment. For each impairment point you are rated at. You will receive 3 weeks of IIBS.

IIBs = 70% of TIBS. So lets go back to the numbers that I used earlier. $760 X 70% = $532.00, $532.00 X 70% = $372.40 would be the amount of the IIBS. Now while you are receiving IIBS you can work without jepordizing your claim. There is one exception to the IIBs amount that I have been told about. I was told that if the amount of TIBS is below the state maximum, then the IIBs amount will be = to the amount of the TIBS.

Medical care for the injury IS for life. Meaning you can not settle on this issue of future medical care.

[TexasPeanut]

Typing one-handed and very sleepy, all I can say right now is thank you very much for the detailed reply!!!!!

AQA Wrote:If you have been off work for two weeks, then you probably haven't received any monitary benifits yet. You should in the next few days. The first week of benifits is held back. You would receive that weeks pay if you are off work for eight weeks. As far as your questions.

1) TIBS, 70% of of your pre-injury wages. I know that you are salary, but it should not be any different that if you were hourly. Lets say that 13 weeks prior to your injury you were making $19.00 per hour and working 40 hours per week. Your average weekly wage would be $760.00. $760 X 70% = $532.00. $760.00 - SSA - Fed. Income Tax = $540.00 (roughly, depending on claimed exemptions).

2) NO. You can not go back to work with out a DRS. O K.. Well, let me retract that statement and put it this way. Yes, you can go back to work at anytime you want, however, you will be jepordizing your wc claim. If an individual is injured and a dr. has taken that indiviual off work, and that individual goes back to work anyway. Isn't that the same as the individual saying that there is nothing wrong with him/her???? And if it is, isn't it the same as the individual saying that a WC claim should have never been filed????

3) Disability rating = Impairment rating = IIBS. MMI = Maximum Medical Improvement. Once your treating dr. has stated that you have reached MMI OR two years after the date of the injury. You will be seen by a DD. ( oops, I forgot to add DD at the begining of this. DD = designated DR.. It is a state seleted dr.) That dr will rate your level of impairment if you have one. Not all injured people have an impairment. Lets say that you do have an impairment. Lets say that the DD says you have a 5% impairment. For each impairment point you are rated at. You will receive 3 weeks of IIBS.

IIBs = 70% of TIBS. So lets go back to the numbers that I used earlier. $760 X 70% = $532.00, $532.00 X 70% = $372.40 would be the amount of the IIBS. Now while you are receiving IIBS you can work without jepordizing your claim. There is one exception to the IIBs amount that I have been told about. I was told that if the amount of TIBS is below the state maximum, then the IIBs amount will be = to the amount of the TIBS.

Medical care for the injury IS for life. Meaning you can not settle on this issue of future medical care.

[sparkey]

I also would like to add, you will have probably many many weeks of PT for your hand after surgery is done and you are without pins, or even if you keep the pins for awhile. You have a long way to go before you can even think of being put at MMI and sent to a IME doctor for a rating.

It takes awhile before you get to that point. Just worry about healing right now and getting your hand back to the best it can be so that you can continue to do the work you did before the accident. Good luck.

At some point your work will probably give you light duty as to some restrictions of what you can lift etc. You will have to accept to go back to work like that anyways doing something different.Not all cases are exactly the same, but pretty close.