Speaking of DWC-73s, the Division is considering a change to its Work Status Reports and is inviting feedback from system participants until March 4, 2022. (Comments can be submitted at
RuleComments@tdi.texas.gov or by mail to Legal Services, MC-LS, Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation, P. O. Box 12050, Austin, TX 78711.) The planned change would require health care providers to identify an injured employee’s job classification if work restrictions are to be imposed. The revised forms are available on TDI’s website.
While we’re on the topic of form changes, the Division has adopted its revised DWC Form-007. Regrettably, the form does not grant one entry into Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but instead allows non-subscribing employers to report work injuries and occupational diseases.
We here at the
Comp-endium are all about segues, so here’s another: Texas employers who do not provide workers’ compensation coverage (the aforementioned non-subscribers), must file DWC Form-005, the Employer Notice of No Coverage or Termination of Coverage, which notifies the Division that the employer has either opted out of providing work comp coverage, or else that coverage has expired. The form must be filed annually between February 1 and April 30.
Plain Language Notices are changing, too. A revised PLN-08 (Notice of Change of Amount of Indemnity Benefit Payment) will come with an instruction to file the new PLN-10B when lump sum payments are issued. The PLN-10B (Notice of Lump Sum Payment of Income or Death Benefits) requires insurers to notify injured employees or their beneficiaries when a lump sum payment is made. The erstwhile PLN-10 will be rechristened as the PLN-10A.
But wait, there’s more! Not to be outdone, the former PLN-02 (Notice of First Temporary Income Benefit) will also henceforth be known as PLN-02A following the creation of PLN-02B, Notice of First Payment of Income Benefits on an Acquired Claim. This new form (because, really, can we ever have enough forms?) will alert injured workers when a new claims administrator begins issuing benefit payments.
