If you are injured at your job and unable to continue working, your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance carrier can pay you weekly benefit checks and pay for your medical treatment for 180 days without actually accepting liability for your injury. This means that at any point during the 180 days, the insurer can stop paying you weekly checks and medical treatment if they mail you a Form 106, also known as an Insurer’s Notification of Termination or Modification of Weekly Compensation During Payment-Without-Prejudice Period. This means that the insurer can stop your payments with only seven days notice to you. The insurer can stop payment for almost any reason. They can claim that you are capable of doing other work, or that an investigation revealed that you weren’t actually injured at work. However, if your insurer has been paying your benefits for more than 180 days, then they have accepted liability and responsibility for your work injury and cannot stop paying you weekly checks unless they file a Form 108, an Insurer’s Complaint for Modification, Discontinuance, or Recoupment of Compensation. This requires the insurer to file the claim and go before the judge to request that they are allowed to stop paying your weekly benefits (only a judge can allow this to occur). The exception to accepting liability if payments are made for more than 180 days is if the insurer sends you aForm 105: Agreement to Extend 180 Day Payment-Without-Prejudice Period. If you sign this form and return it to your insurer, they can file it with the Department of Industrial Accidents, which allows them to stop paying you your weekly checks with 7 days notice (for up to 360 days).
If your insurer sends you a Form 105, it is important to talk to a lawyer before signing it. It may not be in your best interest and may result in your weekly checks stopping before you are able to return to work.
Call Keches Law Group for a free consultation and help with your workers’ compensation case today.
