The letters TDD stand for Temporary Total Disability. When an employee has qualified for TDD status, a portion of that same employee’s salary gets paid to the injured worker, while he or she is covering from that particular injury.

Who is eligible for that special status?

An employee that has been injured on-the-job. The same employee must be evaluated by the primary testing doctor. If that doctor reports that the examined patient/employee cannot return to work, then he or she qualifies for eligibility as another one of those employees with the special status.

The primary testing doctor is usually someone in the employer’s provider network. That means that the same physician might lack a familiarity with the patient’s/employee’s medical history. That fact could affect the start date for the expected payments.

What is the length of the TDD payments?

The payments start with the doctor’s initial report. Keep in mind though, that an attorney for the injured worker could contact the physician in the employer’s network and ask for confirmation of that initial report. That Personal Injury Attorneys in Garden Grove might share information about the employee’s medical history.

If that were to happen, the employee might be granted permission to see a different doctor, perhaps a specialist. Then the desired payments would start when and if that specialist declared that the patient/employee was unable to return to work.

Once they had started, the payments would continue until the treating physician had said that the patient/employee had reached the point of maximum medical recovery (MMI). That would mean that the employee’s status had changed.

What can such employees do, when their TDD payments have ended?

If the employee feels ready to return to work, once he or she has reached the MMI status, then that same worker would need to discuss his or her needs with the employer. The employer would be expected to meet those needs, if doing so did not affect the operations taking place in the workplace.

A discussion about the employee’s plans might also include a request for shortened hours, during the first weeks back at the workplace, the location where the original injury forced the recovery in bed. A returning worker has the right to request shorter hours. Still, those that want to keep their health care coverage may need to work at least 30 hours per week.

It is possible that a worker’s ability to reach MMI status did not guarantee the development of sufficient health, for the purposes of returning to work. If that were the case, then the worker would have to apply for permanent partial disability benefits.

How much do the TDD employees get paid?

Each of them receives 2/3 of their earnings before the injury.