TEMPORARY TOTAL DISABILITY ATTORNEY
IN DENVER, COLORADO

Get Care & Compensation You Deserve

Temporary Total Disability benefits are typically paid at a rate of 2/3 the gross pre-injury average weekly wage, with a statutory cap. The payment is processed when the doctor’s note is received. At times, completely taking off work is the only option - as modified duty is not available to workers in every scenario.

The payments for Temporary Total Disability Benefits are typically to be bi-weekly, and practically speaking, are frequently irregular in actual payments received. This issue is a frequent subject of hearings before the Administrative Law Judges at the Dept. of Administrative Hearings. Mark A. Simon can provide insight into this process through his many years as a Denver workers' comp attorney working directly with these issues.

Continuing Education

To establish entitlement to temporary disability benefits, the claimant must prove that the industrial injury has caused a “disability,” and that he has suffered a wage loss which, “to some degree,” is the result of the industrial disability. §8-42-103(1); see Liberty Heights at Northgate v. Industrial Claim Appeals Office, 30 P.3d 872,873 (Colo.App. 2001). The term “disability,” as used in workers' compensation cases, connotes two elements. The first element is “medical incapacity” evidenced by loss or restriction of bodily function. There is no statutory requirement that the claimant present evidence of a medical opinion of an attending physician to establish his physical disability. See Lymburn v. Symbios Logic, 952 P.2d 831 (Colo.App. 1997). Rather, the claimant’s testimony alone could be sufficient to establish a temporary “disability.” Lymburn v. Symbios Logic, supra. The second element is the loss of wage-earning capacity. Culver v. Ace Electric, 971 P.2d 641 (Colo. 1999). The impairment of earning capacity element of “disability” may be evidenced by a complete inability to work, or physical restrictions which preclude the claimant from securing employment. See Ortiz v. Charles J. Murphy & Co., 964 P.2d 595 (Colo.App. 1998).