What If My Doctor Takes Me Off Work?

Under Tennessee law, if you are injured during the course of your employment, your employer is responsible for the payment of workers’ compensation benefits to you should you miss time from work. Tennessee law requires that the employer set up the injured employee’s doctor exam for an opinion on the workplace injury. The employer is required to give you a choice of three doctors within or close to your community.

If the workers’ compensation doctor takes you out of work because of a work place injury, the Tennessee Workers’ Compensation act requires the employer or insurance company to pay you a check called a temporary total disability check. This check is equal to 66 2/3 of the worker’s average paycheck. This is calculated by averaged the wages of the employee’s for 52 weeks prior to the injury date. It should also be noted that there are maximums and minimums for the temporary total disability check. This payment should begin fifteen days after the injury, and the check should be paid twice per month at the least.

To be eligible for a temporary total disability check under Tennessee law, the worker must have a physicians note taking the employee out of work. Do not count the date of injury but do include each working day covered by the doctor’s off work order. The days that you miss from work do not have to be consecutive.

The temporary total disability check payment is not due to the worker for the initial seven days following the injury. Temporary total disability check payments should begin on the eighth day the workman’s compensation doctor takes the hurt employee out of work. On the ninth day of missed work, the employee would be eligible for two day’s benefits, and so on. If the worker stays out of work until the fourteenth day, the seven day waiting time will be included and the employee receive temporary total disability retroactive to the first day the doctor took the employee out of work. So at that point, the employee would be covered for the entire period of work missed due to the work related injury.

If you have questions about your workman’s compensation claim or comp benefits you are due, please feel free to call The Higgins Firm’s Nashville, Tennessee law offices. You or a loved one may have been injured on the job. If so, we encourage you to contact one of The Higgins Firm’s experienced Nashville workers’ compensation attorneys. We will be glad to give you an opinion on your case. Should you need the help of one of our experienced Nashville workers’ compensation attorneys, we will work with you to gather evidence in order to help you make the best case for your claim. We stand steadfast by our clients and will fight for your claim. We want to make sure that you receive the amount of compensation that you deserve.

Contact us online or call us at 800-705-2121 to set up a FREE consultation to discuss your legal options.