The Minnesota workers’ compensation system is designed to provide financial compensation to workers who suffer injuries during the course of their work duties. However, in order to be successful in your claim, you need to report your injury right away and follow a number of different guidelines and rules along the way. One rule that you’ll want to be mindful of as you pursue compensation is the “three day” rule. In today’s blog, we explain the three day rule and how it affects your quest for compensation after a work injury in Minnesota.
Understanding The Three Day Rule?
Minnesota’s three day rule governs whether or not an employee is eligible for wage loss benefits following an on-the-job injury. Essentially, the rule states that an employee is not eligible to collect wage loss benefits until they have missed at least three calendar days from work as a result of their injuries. If they return to work during or at the conclusion of that three day waiting period, while the employee may be eligible for medical-only compensation, they would not be able to collect compensation for wage loss benefits.
Under Minnesota law, the three day waiting period begins on the first day that an employee misses time away from work due to a disability, and it can start on the same day that the employee suffered an injury. It’s also worth noting that it is a three calendar day waiting period, not work days, so the three day waiting period is in effect even if you are injured on a Friday and not due back to work until Monday.
For example, let’s say Brenda normally works Monday through Friday. Brenda suffers an injury at work on Friday morning and leaves work for treatment. She is unable to return to work until next Wednesday. She may be eligible to receive wage loss benefits for her shifts on Monday and Tuesday, because the three day waiting period would have begun Friday and counted Saturday and Sunday in the period, even though she doesn’t normally work the weekend.
There are a few other points that bear mentioning in regards to the three day waiting rule. You are not eligible to receive wage loss benefits if you missed shifts during the three day waiting period if you return to work within 10 days. For example, if Brenda had been injured on Monday morning and returned to work on Friday, she would only be eligible for wage loss benefits for her Thursday shift. The rest of her Monday shift, her Tuesday shift and her Wednesday shift are not included in a wage loss claim because she returned to work within 10 days. However, if Brenda were to miss at least 10 calendar days of work with her injuries, wage loss benefits would be paid for the entire time she missed work. So if Brenda missed 15 days of work with her injuries, she would be eligible for wage loss benefits for all 15 of her missed shifts.
Let’s quickly review the key points of the three day rule in Minnesota
- You are not eligible for wage loss benefits until you’ve missed at least three calendar days from work as a result of your injuries, but you can still file a medical-only claim.
- The first day of the three day waiting period can begin on the day of your injury, if you miss time from work for medical treatment on the day the injury occurred.
- The three day waiting period is measured in calendar days, not work days.
- Wage loss benefits only pay out missed work shifts after this three day period if you return to work within 10 calendar days of your injury.
- Wage loss benefits will pay out all of your missed shifts, including those in this three day waiting period, if you miss 10 or more calendar days from work.
If you need help filing a claim that pursues wage loss benefits because you missed an extended time away from work, or you just want to maximize your medical-only injury claim, reach out to the team at Hey Workers. Give us a call today at (844) 439-9675.
