Recent Developments In Indiana Worker's Compensation Law

Recent Developments In Indiana Worker's Compensation Law

When Temporary Total Disability Benefits are available to an injured worker who has been fired after sustaining the work-related injury.

Under the Indiana Worker's Compensation Act, employers would typically be able to deny an injured worker temporary total disability benefits if the employer had fired the injured worker for a reason unrelated to the work-related injury.

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For example, in many situations an injured worker would be off work undergoing treatment for the work-related injury and while doing so, would be receiving weekly temporary total disability benefits. These temporary total disabil
ity benefits are essentially wage replacement benefits paid out at two-thirds of the injured worker's average weekly wage. However, when the employer would fired the injured worker for say failing a drug screen or for some other reason, the employer would take the position that it no longer was obligated to pay the injured worker the ongoing temporary total disability benefits the injured worker had been receiving because the employment relationship had been terminated.

The Indiana Court of Appeals in the case Masterbrand Cabinets v. Waid, 72 N.E.2d 986 (Ind. Ct. App. 2017) addressed a similar situation where an injured worker had been receiving temporary total disability benefits but subsequently got fired for misconduct. The Indiana Court of Appeals held that the injured worker's termination for misconduct did not prevent him from receiving temporary total disability benefits.

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In the underlying case, the worker's compensation judge determined that in the context of determining an injured worker's entitlement to temporary total disability, the Board is not required (nor is it empowered) to make determinations of the justness of the termination or the level of misconduct of the injured worker. Instead, the Board must merely determine whether the injuries sustained at work produced an inability, total or partial, to work. The worker's compensation judge noted that the injured worker was limited in his ability to work that resulted in the confrontation which ultimately led to his termination and that the injured worker retained only a very limited capacity to work.

In sum, the Masterbrand Cabinets v. Waid case seems to favor injured workers whose wage replacement benefits also known as temporary total disability benefits have been cut off due to termination of employment. If you have been involved in a work-related injury contact an Indiana Worker's Compensation Attorney for free legal advice.