Can I Use Short-Term Disability While on Workers’ Comp in Missouri?

Understand how workers’ compensation works in the state of Missouri.

With some minor exceptions, Missouri workers’ compensation law provides coverage for all workers injured on the job while working within Missouri. The Workers’ Compensation Division of the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations administers Missouri workers’ compensation law. The most important thing you can do is talk to a Workers’ Compensation attorney call Northland Injury Law at 816-400-4878.

Can I Use Short-Term Disability While on Workers’ Comp?

The big difference between short-term disability (“STD”) and workers’ comp is that workers’ compensation is for people who get hurt at work and STD is for injuries or illness that are deemed non-work related (car accidents, sickness, or diseases). Likewise, short-term disability policies typically do not cover work-related injuries. If you have a STD policy, you are usually paying for this. This is money taken out of your check just in case something unforeseen should happen to you.

Your employer pays for the workers’ compensation insurance, so that way if an injury does occur on the job, the insurance is there to handle the situation (kind of like you and I pay for car insurance – just in case!). Workers’ compensation and STD policies typically have very different time limits associated with them as well.

If you get on STD and you should have been receiving workers’ compensation benefits, you will have to pay back the STD later on.

For example: Your workers’ compensation claim is initially denied, and you start collecting STD benefits. Then you hire a workers’ compensation attorney to go to a hearing and fight for your workers’ compensation benefits. The attorney wins your benefits and you are paid workers’ compensation wages for the time you were out of work. Now you have been paid twice, once from STD and once from workers’ compensation. Now you would have to pay back the money you collected while getting STD to the STD company because workers’ compensation has now paid you and you cannot collect both. No double-dipping!

Also, in most cases to get on STD, you have to say that the injury that is preventing you from working is not work-related. If you are still seeking workers’ compensation benefits, any statements of this nature could be VERY HARMFUL to your case!

Make sure you understand the difference between the two types of insurance, how they affect each other and how they could affect you.

Talk to an Attorney

A Missouri attorney experienced in workers’ compensation can be an invaluable asset to your case, especially if you were seriously injured and cannot go back to work. You should strongly consider talking to a worker’s comp attorney if you need to appeal a denial of your claim and/or your injuries are severe or complex. For a more comprehensive list of all the questions you might have about workers’ compensation, and for a free consultation, please call (816)-400-4878. If you have further questions about your case, do not hesitate to reach out to us by the phone number, through the contact form, or even with the live chat option listed on our site!