OAR 436-060-0020: Temporary rule language in effect until 10/04/2026. Payment of Temporary Total Disability Compensation

(1) Employer payment of temporary disability. An employer may pay temporary disability compensation with the approval of the insurer. If the insurer approves an employer to make such payment: (a) The insurer continues to be responsible for determining the worker’s entitlement to compensation, and ensuring timely payment of compensation; (b) The employer must provide the insurer with payment documentation that is adequate to meet the insurer’s responsibilities; and (c) The insurer must reimburse the employer for any temporary disability compensation paid to the worker under this section. (2) Persons who have withdrawn from the workforce. No temporary disability is due and payable for any period of time in which the person has withdrawn from the workforce. For the purpose of this rule, a person who has withdrawn from the workforce, includes, but is not limited to: (a) A person who, before a claim reopening under ORS 656.267, 656.273 or 656.278, was not working and made no reasonable efforts to obtain employment, unless such efforts would be futile as a result of the compensable injury. (b) A person who was a full-time student for at least six months in the 52 weeks before the date of injury who elects to return to school full time, unless the person can establish a prior customary pattern of working while attending school. For purposes of this subsection, "full time" is defined as twelve or more quarter hours or the equivalent. (3) Authorization of temporary disability compensation. No compensation is due and payable after the worker’s attending physician ceases to authorize temporary disability, or for any period of time when temporary disability benefits are not authorized by a medical service provider under ORS 656.245(2)(b). Temporary disability compensation is authorized when: (a) The medical service provider provides the insurer or employer with oral or written verification of the worker’s inability to work; (b) Documents in the insurer’s possession at claim closure reasonably reflect the worker’s inability to work. For the purposes of this rule "documents" and "possession" have the same meaning as in OAR 436-060-0017(1); or (c) The director determines, at reconsideration of claim closure, there is sufficient contemporaneous medical documentation to reasonably reflect the worker’s inability to work under ORS 656.268. (4) Lack of verification of inability to work. No temporary disability is due and payable for any period of time during which the insurer has requested from the worker’s attending physician or verification of the worker’s inability to work and the attending physician cannot verify it, unless the worker has been unable to receive treatment for reasons beyond the worker’s control. (a) Before withholding temporary disability under this section, the insurer must ask the worker whether a reason beyond the worker’s control prevented the worker from receiving treatment. (A) If no valid reason is found or the worker does not respond or cannot be located, the insurer must document its file regarding those findings. (B) The insurer must provide the director a copy of the documentation within 20 days, if requested. (b) If the attending physician is unable to verify the worker’s inability to work, the insurer may not end temporary disability benefits until written notice has been mailed or delivered under OAR 436-060-0015(7). (c) When verification of temporary disability is received from the attending physician, the insurer must pay temporary disability within 14 days of receiving the verification of any authorized period of temporary disability, unless otherwise denied. (5) Suspension of benefits. An insurer may suspend temporary disability benefits without authorization from the director when all of the following circumstances apply: (a) The worker missed a regularly scheduled appointment with the attending physician; (b) The insurer sent a letter by certified mail to the worker and a letter to the worker’s attorney, at least 10 days in advance of a rescheduled appointment, stating that the appointment has been rescheduled with the worker’s attending physician , stating the time and date of the appointment, and giving the following notice in bold and formatted as follows: You must attend this appointment. If there is any reason you cannot attend, you must tell us before the date of the appointment. If you do not attend, your temporary disability benefits will be suspended without further notice under Oregon law.* If you have any questions you may call: - [Insurer] at [Insurer phone number] - Workers’ Compensation Division at 800-452-0288 (toll-free) - Ombuds Office for Oregon Workers at 800-927-1271 (toll-free) *Oregon Revised Statute 656.262(4)(e) (c) The insurer verifies that the worker has missed the rescheduled appointment; and (d) The insurer sends a letter to the worker, the worker’s attorney and the division giving the date of the regularly scheduled appointment that was missed, the date of the rescheduled appointment that was missed, the date of the letter being the day benefits are suspended, and the following notice in bold and formatted as follows: We have suspended your temporary disability benefits, because you missed a regular appointment with your doctor. When we arranged a new appointment for [date], we notified you in a letter that was sent by certified mail. The letter warned you that we would suspend your benefits if you did not attend, and you did not attend the new appointment. To resume your benefits: - You must schedule and attend an appointment with your doctor, and - Your doctor must verify that you are still unable to work. (6) Verbal release to work. If temporary disability benefits end because the insurer or employer negotiates a verbal release of the worker to return to any type of work with the worker’s attending physician, and the worker has not been informed of the release by the attending physician or returned to work, the insurer must: (a) Document the facts; (b) Communicate the release to the worker by mail within seven days. The communication to the worker of the negotiated return-to-work release may be contained in an offer of modified employment; and (c) Advise the worker of their reinstatement rights under ORS chapter 659A. (7) Temporary disability from two or more claims. When a worker is due concurrent temporary disability under ORS 656.210 or ORS 656.212 as a result of two or more accepted claims: (a) The director may order one of the insurers to pay the entire amount of temporary disability due; or make a pro rata distribution between two or more of the insurers; (b) The insurers may request for the director to make a pro rata distribution of compensation due. The request must be in writing, and the insurer must provide a copy to the worker and the worker’s attorney, if any; (c) The director’s pro rata order does not apply to: (A) Any periods of interim compensation payable under ORS 656.262; or (B) Any benefits due under ORS 656.214 or 656.245; (d) Claims subject to the pro rata order must be closed under OAR 436-030 and ORS 656.268, when appropriate; (e) The pro rata distribution ordered by the director only applies to benefits due as of the date all claims involved are in an accepted status. The order pro-rating compensation will not apply to periods where any claim involved is in a deferred status; (f) The insurers may not prorate temporary disability without the approval of the director, except when the claims involve the same worker, the same employer, and the same insurer. When the insurer prorates temporary disability under this subsection the worker must receive compensation at the highest temporary disability rate of the claims involved. (8) Premature closure. If a closure under ORS 656.268 has been found to be premature and there was an open-ended authorization of temporary disability at the time of closure, the insurer must begin payments under ORS 656.262, including retroactive periods, and pay temporary disability for as long as authorization exists or until there are other lawful bases to terminate temporary disability. (9) Incorrectly denied claims. If a denied claim has been determined to be compensable by final order, the insurer must begin temporary disability payments under ORS 656.262, including retroactive periods, if the authorization for temporary disability was open-ended at the time of denial, and there are no other lawful bases to terminate temporary disability.