Workers’ compensation helps injured workers pay for medical bills, provides disability payments to make up for lost wages, helps pay for rehab, provides training, as well as other benefits. Nearly all of our clients are injured on a job while working and employed by a company in Minnesota. At times, we have clients which are unsure about whether or not they can file a Workers’ Compensation claim in Minnesota if they weren’t technically in Minnesota when the work-related injury occurred, or if their company isn’t based in Minnesota.
In this post we are going to explain the intricate details of when forms need to be filed. And demonstrate three different scenarios in which injured workers have the right to Workers’ Compensation benefits in Minnesota. These scenarios include the following:
- You’re injured while working in Minnesota, even if your employer is based somewhere else.
- Working for a Minnesota-based company and injured on the job while temporarily out of the state.
- If you regularly work within Minnesota, but suffer from a work-related injury outside of Minnesota.
Injured While Working in Minnesota
Within this particular scenario you can file a claim in Minnesota if you suffer from a work-related injury while working in Minnesota, and this includes individuals who work for a company not based in Minnesota. There are some circumstances that allow people to choose which state to pursue a claim in, which could include a situation in which someone who doesn’t regularly work in Minnesota is injured while in the state having the choice to either make a claim in Minnesota or the state in which the individual is employed.
It’s important to understand that once you file a claim in a certain state you can’t change your decision. You can receive Workers’ Compensation benefits from Minnesota for a new injury even when you have a claim in another state for a different work-related injury from the past, just as long as you don’t file a claim for the same injury in two states.
Injured While Working Temporarily out of Minnesota
There are three criteria that must be met in order to determine the jurisdiction of an out-of-state, work-related injury being allowed a Workers’ Compensation claim in Minnesota, including the following:
- The employee was hired in Minnesota
- The employee was hired by a Minnesota employer
- Injury occurs while employee is temporarily outside of Minnesota
It’s important to know that for the first factor you have to be formally hired in Minnesota and not be in the process of being hired. The second factor technically deals with whether or not the employer has a location or office within Minnesota. In the final factor, the main concern is whether or not the employee is working on a job outside of Minnesota that is intended to be permanent or some kind of relocation, but as long as the employee doesn’t have any intention to relocate they’ll likely be granted jurisdiction in Minnesota.
Injured out-of-state but regularly working within Minnesota
This is a scenario in which Minnesota will extend Workers’ Compensation coverage to any employee who can prove that they regularly are performing the duties of his or her job in Minnesota, but ended up getting injured while working for the same employer outside of Minnesota. The main necessity here is a fundamental part of the employment being in Minnesota. This can be a little bit complicated for some positions like truck drivers. But if you do deliver a ton of places for your job but happen to deliver to Minnesota twice a week then those two deliveries per week would be considered regular duties in the state.
When Forms Need to be Filed
Filing Workers’ Compensation forms can be complicated for both employers and employees, and this section entails the information both parties need to know about for each form that’s involved with the process of notifying the state of a work-related injury and receiving benefits.
First Report of Injury Form
This is a form that the insurer must file for any injury claim that involves disability beyond a three-day waiting period, or an injury that resulted in some kind of permanent partial disability.
Notice of Insurer’s Primary Liability Determination (NOPLD) Form
This form must be filed after the first report form, and it’s used to report the following:
- The first payment of wage-loss benefits
- Liability acceptance, but denial of initial wage-loss benefits; and
- A primary liability denial
There are also some instances in which this form can be utilized more than once, including the following situations in which the insurer:
- Denies primary liability initially, but accepts liability later
- Accepts a claim and pays wage-loss benefits, but denies primary liability later on within 60 days
- Accepts a claim that doesn’t provide wage-loss benefits, but later voluntarily pays wage-loss benefits
Notice of Intention to Discontinue Workers Compensation Benefits (NOID) form
This form discontinues or reduces any kind of temporary total disability (TTD), temporary partial disability (TPD) or permanent total disability (PTD) benefits within the following situations:
- When the injured employee returns to work and is receiving their full wage
- When the employee returns to work, but at a reduced wage from before the injury
- OR; for other reasons that don’t involve a return to working after the injury
Notice of Benefit Reinstatement (NOBR) form
This report is used for the following:
- Bringing back wage-loss benefits, after an NOID has been filed
- A change in wage-loss benefits
- A change from the employer contributing full wage continuation to insurer-paid benefits
Notice of Benefit Payment (NOBP) form
This is used when:
- Paying permanent partial disability (PPD) benefits in lump sums
- Making a first periodic PPD benefits payment
- Making a final periodic PPD payment
- Paying an injured person under an administrative decision or order
Health Care Provider Report form
This form is filed:
- With a denial of benefits that justify any reasons for that denial
- With the NOID when a discontinuance is because of a medical opinion (e.g. full release to go back to work)
Disability Status Report (DSR) form
This form is required to be filed under the following circumstances:
- When an employer finds out within 14 calendar days that the employee’s injury is likely to exceed 13 total weeks of missed work
- Anytime within the first 90 calendar days from the date of the employee’s injury, in the case that the employee has not returned to work in that time frame
- After receiving a rehabilitation consultation request
Any matters of jurisdiction and how and where to file your benefits claims can be very complicated, and so we’re always more than happy to go over all your options with you and help explain Minnesota’s Workers’ Compensation laws in detail.
Give us a call today at 651-291-7263, or send us a message online.