What If My Workers’ Comp Checks Are Late or Stop Completely?
Your rent doesn’t stop because the insurance company missed a check.
What the Law Says THE SHORT ANSWER. If a doctor has you off work (or on restrictions your employer can’t accommodate) and your temporary total disability checks are late, short, or stopped, Missouri law gives you more than patience. Under RSMo § 287.203, the employer/insurer must, when it terminates TTD-type benefits, notify you and state the reason — and if you dispute the termination, you may request a hearing, which the Division must set within 30 days of your request and decide within 30 days of the hearing. The statute also lets the Division assess the whole cost of the proceeding against a party who defended it without reasonable grounds.
I’ve Seen This Before The version of this I hear most often: the checks were arriving like clockwork, then the doctor said the words “maximum medical improvement” at an appointment, and the very next check never came. No phone call, no explanation. The letter explaining why showed up days or weeks after the money stopped. My clients almost always assume they did something wrong; they didn’t. A benefit that ends the moment MMI is declared is a decision someone made, and decisions can be challenged.
Why Checks Stop
Common triggers: the authorized doctor released you to some work; a light-duty offer you dispute; an MMI declaration; a return-to-work disagreement; a termination from employment (note: Missouri law addresses cutoffs of temporary benefits after termination for post-injury misconduct, which is a litigable issue, not an automatic one); or simple administrative failure.
The response differs by reason — which is why the written explanation § 287.203 requires matters. Insist on it.
Document It Like Evidence, Because It Is
Keep: every check stub and its date, bank records showing deposits, your off-work slips and restriction notes, the light-duty offer (if any) in writing, every letter and email, and a simple log — date, who you spoke to, what was said. In a payment dispute, the worker with a clean paper record starts ahead.
When to Get Help
A single late check may be a hiccup. Stopped benefits while you remain off work is a legal dispute with a statutory remedy on a statutory clock, and the Division lists delayed checks among the situations where a lawyer may be needed. A consultation generally costs nothing. Stopped checks are one of the disputes we handle most often, and our denied claims page shows where a 287.203 hearing fits in the wider case.
Sources: RSMo §§ 287.170, 287.203; Mo. DWC guidance. Educational information, not legal advice.
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