Disability Lawyers in Austin
What is disability?
Disability means you are making less money because you got injured at work. If you have disability, you should get workers’ compensation checks called Temporary Income Benefits, or TIBS. These weekly payments are supposed to start after you miss your 7th day of work. This is called the waiting period. If you miss a month of work, the insurance company is supposed to go back and pay that first week. The weekly TIBS amount is 70% of what your average gross earnings and discontinued fringe benefits were in the 13 weeks before you got hurt—your average weekly wage, or AWW. Additionally, these TIBS are also subject to a maximum amount, called a cap.
More about TIBS
TIBS don’t last forever. The longest you can receive them is two years after you miss your 7th day of work because of your injury. That 7 days doesn’t necessarily mean consecutive days. It can add up an hour or a day at a time. For most people, TIBS end much earlier than the two year and one week limitation. If you return to work and are earning as much as you did before you got hurt, TIBS will end. If you go to work at a different job, you must report your wages to the insurance company. If your treating doctor releases you to return to work without restrictions, the insurance company will stop the checks, even if you can’t go back to your job. This is a common problem. If you have received a full duty return to work, but you can’t work, contact our Austin TIBS disability attorneys.
Your TIBS may also stop if you go to jail or abandon your medical care. But the main reason your TIBS end, and a critical part of any workers’ compensation case, centers around a concept called maximum medical improvement, or MMI.
