NEVER IGNORE AN INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION FORM
Once the insurance company starts paying weekly benefits these are supposed to continue unless, 1.) You return to work; 2.) The Industrial Commission grants the defendants permission to stop payments; 3.) You die; 4.) You settle your case.
An Industrial Commission Form 24 and Industrial Commission Form 90 demand your close attention. These Forms can lead to the Industrial Commission granting the defendants permission to stop your payments.
The Form 24, is defendants' Application to Suspend or Terminate Benefits. The insurance company is required to fill in a blank indicating the date by which you must respond. This is seventeen days after they mailed the form to you. If you respond in the allotted time, the Industrial Commission will conduct a telephonic hearing during which you will be able to argue for a continuation of your benefits.
The danger is this: If you fail to respond within seventeen days, the Industrial Commission will permit termination of benefits automatically.
Insurance companies often send Forms 24 to unrepresented claimants - especially if they hear the injured worker moved. Obviously you cannot respond to what you never get. The Industrial Commission, of course, doesn't know any better when it allows the termination of benefits.
The Form 90 is a similar situation. The insurance company is permitted to ask you to sign under oath that either you haven't worked, or if you have, how much you earned. The insurance company may do this once every six months. This is the Form 90. Because the Form 90 must be sent to you by certified mail with a green return receipt card for your signature, it will be pretty obvious that it is important.
If for some reason, you forget to respond within thirty days, the Industrial Commission will grant defendants' request to suspend your benefits.
If you receive either a Form 24 or a Form 90, you should know that the insurance company has decided to put some heat on you. These are often warning signs of more trouble ahead.
