Learn how much compensation you may be entitled to in Minnesota if you suffer a work-related injury or sickness, and how the state has relaxed workers’ compensation eligibility for certain frontline employees during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Workers’ compensation in Minnesota offers medical care, temporary disability payments, and other vital benefits to employees who suffer work-related injuries or illnesses. The benefits you may be entitled to will be determined by your unique circumstances, including your medical condition and how much you earned prior to being injured. This page describes how the most significant types of workers’ compensation payments in Minnesota are calculated.
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Minnesota Temporary Disability Benefits
Temporary disability benefits compensate you for some of your missed pay while you recuperate from a work-related accident or illness. Unless you’ve been out of work for at least 10 days, there’s a three-day waiting period before benefits begin.
Benefits for Temporary Total Disability
If you are unable to work due to your injuries, you may be eligible for temporary total disability (TTD) payments. The amount of these benefits will be two-thirds of your typical weekly salary prior to being injured or sick, up to a ceiling that varies each October depending on the statewide average weekly wage. The maximum is $1,666.88 per week for injuries sustained in the fiscal year commencing October 1, 2020. There is also a weekly minimum payment of $130 for injuries that occurred before October 1, 2021; after that, the minimum will be 20% of the maximum payout or the employee’s weekly income, whichever is less.
TTD benefits will be discontinued:
when you’re able to return to work 90 days after doctors report that your medical condition will not improve any further (a stage known as “maximum medical improvement,” or MMI), or after you’ve received benefits for the maximum time allowed (130 weeks for TTD), unless you’re enrolled in an approved retraining program at the time.
Benefits for Temporary Partial Disability
If you can work but earn less than your pre-injury earnings due to the limits created by your injury, you may be eligible for temporary partial disability payments.
TPD payments in Minnesota are equal to two-thirds of the difference between your pre-injury and post-injury earnings (up to the same maximum amount as for TTD). If you used to make $1,200 per week but can now only earn $600, you would get $400 in TPD benefits ($1,000-$600 = $600; 0.6666 x $600 = $400).
Even if you are still unable to work at your pre-injury earnings, TPD benefits will end after you have received them for 250 weeks or 450 weeks since your injury, whichever comes first.
Benefits for Permanent Disability
If you continue to have some degree of impairment after reaching MMI, you may be eligible for permanent partial or complete disability payments, depending on the severity of the impairment.
Partially Permanent Disability
When you attain MMI, your doctor will give you a percentage grade of whole body disability. Unless you are permanently and fully incapacitated (see below), the rating will decide how much permanent partial disability (PPD) compensation you will get. PPD benefits in Minnesota are computed by multiplying the impairment rating by a cash value specified in a compensation plan under Minnesota law.
For example, according to the timetable in effect in 2021:
If your whole body disability rating is 10%, your benefit will be $84,000 x.10, or $8,400.
The benefit for a 35% impairment rating would be $115,500 x.35, or $40,425.
A 60% impairment assessment would result in a gain of $199,500 multiplied by.60, or $119,700.
PPD benefits may be paid in installments or as a single amount (with a 5% reduction). The current Minnesota legislation contains the whole compensation schedule.
Total and Permanent Disability
As long as you have a specific degree of whole body damage, you may be eligible for permanent total disability (PTD) payments in Minnesota if your accident has rendered you fully and permanently unable to work at anything other than infrequent employment (with the threshold depending on your age and education). However, the legislation presumes that you are eligible for PTD if your injury permanently:
You have lost both limbs or legs at the shoulders or hips, you are blind in both eyes, you are entirely paralyzed, or you have lost all mental skills.
If you match any of these conditions, your PTD benefits will continue even if you return to work. Otherwise, PTD payments are available for as long as you are fully incapacitated.
These benefits will be worth two-thirds of your pre-injury earnings, up to the same maximum as TTD benefits (with a minimum of 65% of the statewide average weekly salary). However, after you’ve earned a total of $25,000, your weekly payments may be lowered to offset any government disability benefits you get for the same injury.
Other Worker’s Compensation Benefits in Minnesota
Other benefits provided under Minnesota workers’ compensation include:
reasonable and necessary medical treatment for a work-related injury or illness mileage for travel to get medical treatment vocational rehabilitation services, such as job retraining and assistance in finding a new job if your old employer is unable to offer you work within your physical limitations; and death benefits for the spouse and dependents of an employee who died as a result of a work-related injury or illness, as well as reasonable burial expenses up to $15,000.
When You Need Assistance With Workers’ Compensation Benefits in Minnesota
If your workers’ compensation claim is refused, or if you disagree with the impairment level awarded to you, you should consult with an expert Minnesota workers’ compensation lawyer who can analyze your claim and assist you in obtaining the benefits you deserve. If you’re concerned about the cost, you should know that Minnesota generally limits the amount of fees that workers’ compensation attorneys can charge: a maximum of 20% of the first $130,000 in benefits that the lawyer assists you in collecting after the insurance company refused to pay, excluding benefits for medical treatment or vocational services.