During the course of a workers’ compensation claim, many injured workers’ find it difficult to make ends meet on just their weekly workers’ compensation checks. It can be both difficult and frustrating to wait and see if your weekly check is going to arrive on time in the mail. Then, once you receive the workers’ compensation check, the amount of the check may not even be enough to cover your bills.

The insurance company and adjuster usually don’t tell an injured worker that they can apply for a cash advance on their weekly workers’ compensation income checks. An injured worker can apply for and be granted an advance up to three (3) times within the course of the same injury. This extra money in a cash advance can come in handy for an injured worker who is trying to catch up on bills, household repairs, or any other financial hardships that they might be facing during their workers’ compensation claim.

If an injured worker is interested in applying for a cash advance, a form must be filled out and submitted to the Division of Workers’ Compensation for approval. When an injured worker applies for an advance, they can request up to four (4) times the maximum weekly rate for Temporary Income Benefits at the time of their injury. That means that the amount that an injured worker requests for your advance is not based on how much they get per week in their workers’ compensation checks, but what the maximum weekly Temporary Income Benefits rate is for their date of injury.

For example, if an injured worker was injured on April 1, 2020, the maximum amount of weekly Temporary Income Benefits is $970.70. Four times the maximum Temporary Income Benefits rate is $3,148.00, so that injured worker could request a cash advance for up to $3,882.80. This is true even if the amount of you Temporary Income Benefits check is lower than $970.70 per week.

A cash advance can be requested by an injured worker at any point in their claim, so long as they are receiving income benefit checks from the insurance carrier. An advance can be requested and approved even after you have received and Impairment Rating or even if you are applying for Supplemental Income Benefits.

If the Division of Workers’ Compensation approves an injured workers’ request for an advance, then a copy of the approval will go out to all parties. Once the insurance adjuster receives a copy of the approved advance, the insurance carrier has five (5) business days to issue the full amount of the advance to the injured worker. If the Division of Workers’ Compensation denies a request for an advance, the Division should provide a reason for the denial of a request for a cash advance.

If you are wanting to request a cash advance on your workers’ compensation claim, contact Abbott, Clay & Bedoy and one of our attorneys would be happy to speak with you.