Returning to Work at Reduced Wages
If you go back to work at fewer hours or lower pay than before your injury, partial temporary income benefits make up part of the difference. This page explains how the checks change and what records to keep.
Partial TIBs pay part of the wage gap
Going back to work at reduced pay is one of the most common outcomes of a work injury. The light-duty job pays less than your old position, or the doctor limits your hours, or you can manage the work but not the overtime that used to fill out your check.
Texas workers' comp does not make you choose between working and receiving benefits. When you earn less than before because of your injury, temporary income benefits (TIBs, the checks that replace part of your lost wages) continue in a reduced form, called partial TIBs. The check covers part of the gap between your old earnings and your new ones, generally 70 percent of the difference. It does not restore your full old income, and it was never designed to.
A short example holds the idea still. Suppose your average weekly wage, the figure your benefits are measured against, was $600, and light duty now pays you $300 a week. The gap is $300. Partial TIBs pay roughly 70 percent of that gap, about $210, on top of your $300 paycheck. Partial Temporary Income Benefits Based on Disability walks through the calculation in full, and the income benefits calculator on this site will run your own numbers.
What the carrier needs from you
The insurance carrier (the company paying benefits on the claim) can only compute your partial check if it knows what you earned. Three habits keep this working:
1. Keep every paystub. Your stubs are the evidence of your post-injury earnings, and the evidence that your check was computed correctly. 2. Report your earnings to the adjuster in writing. Do not assume your employer's payroll office is doing it, and do not wait to be asked. 3. Check the notices against the stubs. When your payment amount changes, the carrier must send you PLN-08 explaining the new amount. Compare it with your actual pay. Errors happen in both directions.
The wage on the other side of the equation matters just as much. Your average weekly wage comes from the wage statement your employer filed on DWC003, and if that figure is wrong, every partial check built on it is wrong. Average Weekly Wage in Texas Workers' Compensation Claims explains how to check it.
The check should move with your earnings
If your hours vary week to week, your partial TIBs should vary with them. A week of more hours means a smaller benefit check; a week of fewer hours means a larger one. This is normal, not a sign of trouble. What is a sign of trouble is a check that stays flat while your earnings swing, or a check that stops entirely without a written notice. When Your Comp Checks Stop Coming covers that situation.
When partial TIBs end
Partial TIBs end the same two ways all TIBs end: your earnings return to the pre-injury level, or you reach maximum medical improvement (MMI, the point where your recovery has leveled off). After MMI, wage loss is no longer the measure. If you have permanent damage, impairment income benefits pay regardless of what you earn, and for the most seriously injured, supplemental income benefits later apply their own earnings test. How Returning to Work Affects Your Benefits lays out that full sequence, and Maximum Medical Improvement in Texas Workers' Compensation Claims explains MMI itself.
Attorney notes regarding return to work & restrictions
Returning to work after an injury is an important part of many workers’ compensation claims. But decisions about when you return, what work you accept, and whether you can safely perform it can also affect your income benefits. This is an area where a decision made at work today can become part of a workers’ compensation dispute tomorrow.
Be careful when:
- You are asked to work outside your restrictions: Your employer’s expectations and your doctor’s restrictions may not always match.
- You receive a light-duty job offer: Do not ignore it. Whether the offer is valid and whether you can perform the job can affect your benefits.
- You try returning to work but cannot continue: Make sure the reason you stopped working is properly documented.
- You are fired, laid off, or asked to resign: Losing your job does not automatically answer whether you are entitled to workers’ compensation income benefits.
- Your wages decrease after the injury: Returning to work does not always mean your right to income benefits has ended.
At Abbott, Clay & Bedoy, we help injured workers evaluate return-to-work issues, medical restrictions, light-duty offers, and disputes over disability and income benefits.
Do not make an important employment decision without considering what it could do to your workers’ compensation claim. We can help you understand your options before a workplace problem becomes a benefits problem.
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