Under Illinois workers compensation law, TTD or temporary total disability is the pay you receive after you are injured on the job and can’t work. Sometimes it’s because you are fully off of work per your doctor. Other times it’s because your doctor has given you work restrictions that your employer can’t accommodate.

The TTD pay is 2/3 of your average weekly wage for the 52 weeks prior to the accident and is tax free. We get a lot of great questions from clients and blog readers about Illinois TTD benefits. Here are five that we think most people should know about.

  1. I was hurt at work and have been receiving TTD benefits. I want to hire a lawyer because the insurance company won’t approve my MRI. If I do that, will the attorney take 20% of my weekly checks? No. We don’t take a penny of TTD benefits unless they aren’t getting paid and an attorney has to go to court or use significant effort to get it paid to you. Otherwise all that money stays in your pocket where it belongs. There are some shady attorneys who will take TTD money they probably shouldn’t get so look out for them.
  2. I was working two jobs when I got hurt. The main one where the injury was caused I made $700 a week. I got an additional $300 a week from my part time job. I can’t work either job. Do they have to cover the lost wages from my second job too? The answer is likely yes, but it depends on whether or not your employer knew about the second job and approved of it. They don’t have to give verbal or written approval, they just can’t have told you that they didn’t want you working elsewhere. For about 95% of the people we talk to this is never an issue and you get paid for both jobs.
  3. What happens if I can work one of my jobs, but not the other? Do I still get TTD? Assuming they were aware of that other job then yes. You’d get temporary partial disability or TPD which is still 2/3 of the missing pay and still tax free. This happens a lot, especially when one job is physical and the other job is not.
  4. My cousin works in Kansas and said that there is a limit as to how long you can get work comp there? Is it the same way here in Illinois? I’m going to have my second back fusion and may be out of work over a year? There is no limit on how long you can receive TTD benefits in Illinois or how much can be paid.
  5. When I got hurt at work I was making $1200 a week. I was off for a bit and went back to work and now make $1500 a week. I’m having surgery soon and will miss three months of work. Is my TTD rate based on my new, higher wage? Unfortunately it is not. The TTD rate is always based on your wages at the time of the accident.

We love answering questions about Illinois work comp law and help everywhere in Illinois via our state wide network. If you’d like to talk to an attorney for free, please call us any time at 312-346-5578.