Are Waiting Periods for TTD compensation universal in workers’ compensation?

Despite having addressed waiting and retroactive periods before, I continue to receive questions about the law and policy surrounding them.  The questions usually contain assumptions that waiting and retroactive periods are universal features of workers' compensation systems and their design is uniform.  Neither assumption is true.  Understanding the variation in waiting and retroactive periods is critical to interjurisdictional comparison, policy analysis and financial risk planning for employers and workers. It is also essential in any comparative exercise on the costs and benefits of workers' compensation systems.  

Waiting periods are not a universal feature of workers’ compensation for temporary total disability (TTD).  While common in US states, waiting periods for TTD compensation are absent from most Canadian workers’ comp and  Australian “WorkCover” jurisdictions.   Where waiting periods are part of the workers’ compensation legislation, they are far from uniform in design. 

A waiting period for TTD workers’ compensation is a specified time frame following a work-related injury for which TTD compensation is not payable.  A few jurisdictions provide exceptions to the waiting period rule in the case of hospitalization (California, Idaho for example) or for certain professions (firefighters in Maine and New Brunswick). 

Closely aligned with waiting periods are retroactive periods.  If there is a waiting period, legislation usually contains a retroactive provision allowing for TTD compensation to be extended to the waiting period if the duration of disability extends beyond a specified period (7 days in Delaware, 6 weeks in Louisiana, for example) .  Some jurisdictions (Rhode Island and Hawaii, for example) have no retroactive period regardless of the duration of TTD. Where there is no retroactive period or where the duration of disability is less than the retroactive period, the injured worker receives no TTD compensation to offset the lost wages.

An uncompensated waiting period is a worker-paid “deductible”.  From the perspective of the worker, the full value of earnings lost during the waiting period represents a financial cost to the worker in addition to the human cost associated with work-related injury.  A waiting period that is waived or paid retroactively  reduces the financial burden of lost earnings but does not make the workers “whole” with respect to lost earnings.  Earning replacement rates and maximum insurable earnings or maximum benefit payments still apply and virtually guarantee that a portion of lost earnings are never recovered through workers’ compensation insurance. 

There is no universal standard for what constitutes an equitable waiting period.  The 1972 report of the National Commission on State Workmen’s Compensation Laws headed by John F Burton, Jr., noted the pressures for reducing and maintaining waiting periods:

The advantage of reducing both the waiting and the qualifying period [for retroactive benefits] is that workers will have a higher proportion of their lost remuneration replaced by benefits. At the same time, the cost of the program increases, both in benefits paid and in administrative expenses. Proponents of the waiting period argue also that a waiting period is necessary to discourage malingering. (Chapter 3 page 59)

The National Commission’s mandate required an evaluation of various aspects of permanent and temporary compensation under state workers’ compensation laws with respect to adequacy and equity.  Its recommendation regarding waiting and retroactive periods provides guidance to policy makers in the US and beyond.  The National Commission summarized its recommendation this way: 

We recommend that the waiting period for benefits be no more than three days and that a period of no more than 14 days be required to qualify for retroactive benefits for days lost.(Ibid.)

The National Commission’s recommendation defines a reasonable “minimum standard”  or threshold  against which policy makers and stakeholders may examine workers’ compensation waiting and retroactive periods.  Using this “no more than” standard, each workers’ compensation jurisdiction may be assigned to one of  three distinct categories of compliance with National Commission’s  recommendation:   Exceeds, Meets, and Fails to meet the minimum recommended by the National Commission.

In February 2017, I retrieved statutes and/or policy documents regarding waiting and retroactive periods for all North American jurisdictions.  I then categorized each according to its compliance with  the National Commission recommendation. [As an aside, most statutes contain no reference to a “waiting period”.  The provisions that give rise to waiting periods are often framed as prohibitions against payment for losses in the initial days following injury or prescribed timeframes for the “commencement” of temporary total disability compensation payments.]   The preliminary results of my analysis are as follows:

• Exceeds Minimum recommendation:
• No waiting period or
• Waiting period of three days and/or retroactive period of less than 14 days or
• Waiting period less than three days and retroactive period of 14 days or less
• Wyoming, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Minnesota, Vermont, Connecticut, Delaware, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland & Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon

• Meets Minimum: 
• Waiting period of 3 days and retroactive period of 14 days
• Washington, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, Illinois, Kentucky, District of Columbia, Maryland,  New Hampshire

• Fails to meet recommendation: 
• Waiting period of more than 3 days or
• Waiting period of any length and no retroactive period or
• Waiting period of any length and retroactive period of greater than 14 days
• California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas,  Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia

More than half of the North American workers’ compensation systems examined in this analysis fail to meet the minimum waiting period and retroactive period recommendation of the National Commission. 

This wide disparity across systems creates inequalities in the financial burden for workers.  It also complicates comparisons of employer costs for workers’ compensation.   Rate comparisons rarely take into account the financial impact of the variation due to system features such as waiting and retroactive periods.  Clearly, the value provided by  workers’ compensation coverage  with no waiting periods (or a short waiting and retroactive periods) should be taken into account when comparing rates and costs to jurisdictions with lengthy waiting periods (and particularly if they  have lengthy or absent retroactive periods).   That said, I can find no published figures or estimates of the uncompensated wage loss due to waiting periods in any state with a waiting period.  There are estimates of the value of “employer deductibles” but worker deductibles in either dollar amounts or uncompensated time (days or weeks) are not reported.

The laws and policies around the commencement of TTD compensation impact every workers' compensation time-loss claim.  More than any other comparative feature, the policies regarding waiting periods and retroactive periods influence the balance of who bears the cost of the most common workplace injuries.  Workers bear the physical and financial costs of those injuries; the portion uncompensated by workers' compensation systems can vary widely with devastating consequences on families and the potential externalization of costs to other insurers, workers, and the community at large.  These externalizations obscure the full cost of work-related injuries--and amount to a subsidy to the cost of production that removes or dilutes incentives toward prevention of injury and disability.  

Where waiting periods have been eliminated, the uncompensated portion of lost earnings is reduced and may be inferred by the reported value of compensation for TTD paid.  Where waiting periods exist, the uncompensated portion of lost earnings will be significantly higher than for otherwise similar injuries and system features. Quantifying the impact may influence safety and outcomes for millions of workers.  

Why is there a waiting period for workers' compensation?

Many workers’ compensation jurisdictions have a “waiting period” for workers’ compensation.  This is a form of “deductible” whereby the worker absorbs the initial financial impact of wages lost due to a work-related injury.  Most jurisdictions with a waiting period also have a “retroactive period”; if a claim extends to or beyond the retroactive period, workers’ compensation for temporary disability during the waiting period is compensated.  There are also a number of jurisdictions that “waive” or “exempt” certain injuries or occupations from waiting periods. 

Waiting periods are not universal.  They are absent from most workers’ compensation systems in Australia and Canada.  In the US, waiting periods are common.  When John Burton wrote the National Commission on State Workers’ Compensation Laws (Washington, DC July 1972), he summarized the rationale for waiting periods and recommended the upper limits for waiting periods and retroactive provisions.  Specifically, the report’s Introduction and Summary notes on page 18:

Waiting period [Section 27(d)( 1 )(H) ] . Recommendations published by the Department of Labor propose a 3 day waiting period and a 14 day retroactive period. In contrast, the Model Act of the Council of State Governments specifies a 7 day waiting period and a 28 day retroactive period. Most States meet the standard of the Model Act, but do not meet the Department of Labor recommendation. Although the Model Act would provide benefits for 83 percent of lost time, the U.S. Department of Labor standard would compensate for 93 percent. The purpose of the waiting and retroactive provisions are to reduce payments for truly minor incidents and to assure benefits for even moderately serious injuries.

 We recommend that the waiting period be no more than 3 days and that the retroactive period be no more than 14 days. (See R3.5)

 

Using the National Commission recommendation as a basis for judgement, only 17 of 51 US jurisdictions would meet or exceed the recommendation regarding the length of the waiting period and retroactive period; all twelve Canadian jurisdictions would meet the waiting period recommendation but three would fail to meet the recommended retroactive upper limit.  The accompanying table reports the waiting period and retroactive period provisions in the US and Canada and assesses these against the National Commission’s recommendation. 

Interestingly, back in 1916 when British Columbia was considering its entry into workers’ compensation, the committee of the legislature (under Avard Pineo), the waiting period was avidly discussed.  The BC committee opted for a 3 day waiting period based on the following reasoning: 

We think that a waiting period of three days applicable in all cases will be adequate to accomplish any proper purpose sought by those who advocate the necessity of a waiting period, but will not be found to seriously inconvenience the injured workman, especially as he is during this period provided with full and adequate medical aid.http://www.worksafebc.com/publications/reports/historical_reports/pineo_report/default.asp

While the trade-off in 1916 was a three-day waiting period for the best medical aid provision in workers’ compensation at the time, many critics felt the burden of the waiting period was still considerable. The three day waiting period would be supported by three Royal Commissions in BC (Sloan 1942, Sloan 1952, and Tysoe 1966).  In the 1966 Royal Commission in British Columbia, Justice Tysoe sided with the business community and recommended continuation of the three day waiting period because of a fear of the financial impact on business if it were eliminated.  The government adopted that recommendation but in 1972, in the lead up to an election, the government of the day eliminated the waiting period.  

The most recent Royal Commission in British Columbia (1999) closely examined waiting periods.  It heard a number of reasons why a waiting period might be considered.  Reducing employer costs was one but concerns over “moral hazard” and high administrative costs were also noted.  The Royal Commission concluded:

Waiting periods do not reduce the costs of workplace injuries unless legislation and policies promote conduct by employers and workers that results in a real reduction in the number of injuries and illnesses, or a reduction in frivolous claims which would otherwise have occupied adjudicators’ time. If real costs are not being reduced, then waiting periods are simply a means for shifting costs away from the workers’ compensation system and onto individual workers, employers, or both.

The commission does not consider the latter an appropriate objective or result. The commission’s examination of the limited empirical evidence on waiting periods leads to the conclusion that any cost savings associated with waiting periods due to reductions in claims volume may well be more than offset by increases in the average costs of the remaining compensation claims, due to the extension of work absences beyond the waiting period (or beyond the retroactive period if one is introduced). 

Therefore, the commission sees no compelling reason to extend the current waiting period [the day following the day of injury], and in fact is of the view that injured workers should not be unfairly or unnecessarily denied compensation for losses caused by work-related injury.

Royal Commission on Workers’ Compensation in British Columbia Volume II Chapter 1 http://www.wcat.bc.ca/research/WorkSafeBC/WSBC_Hist_Rpt/1999-rc-report-2.pdf

There may be reasons why a state or province has a waiting period (and retroactive period) in its legislation.  The reasons, however, should be explicit and supported by research.  If the reasons are economic, then the economic magnitude of the policy should be measured.  I can find no current estimate of the “co-pay” or “deductible” portion of workers’ compensation born by workers who must serve an unrecompensed waiting period. 

If the reason for a waiting period provision is to discourage “frivolous claims”, then the central premise behind the argument is questionable.  Is any work-related injury “frivolous”?  Frivolous is a subjective judgement and hard to test from a research perspective.  All work injuries are serious and important in revealing failures in the barriers, safeguards and defenses that would protect workers from harm. 

There are other important questions that need to be examined.  Does the presence of a waiting period influence reporting of work-related injuries?  Is the duration of work-related injury disability influenced by the presence or absence of a waiting period?  What impact, if any, does the length of a waiting period and retroactive period have on recovery outcomes, worker satisfaction, or appeal activity?

Workers already must bear the human cost of work-related injury.  Quantifying the additional economic burden and other impacts of waiting periods and retroactive provisions should be on the research agenda.