Minnesota Work Comp and Direct Deposit | Bloomington Injury Lawyer

If you’re injured at work and focused on making a full recovery, the last thing you want to do is to drive to the bank and deposit a bi-weekly check you receive for your injury claim. If you’re seriously injured, driving or arranging a ride to the bank can put you at risk for further injury, and even if you can drive just fine, it takes away from time where you could be doing your physical therapy exercises.

In Minnesota, you are allowed to have your workers’ compensation checks directly deposited into your bank account, similar to how your normal paychecks are likely directly deposited, but this isn’t something that happens automatically. It’s not all that hard to get direct deposit of your work comp check set up, but you probably have a lot on your plate after a work injury, so it’s easy to see how setting this up can get put on the back burner.

Getting Your Work Comp Check Directly Deposited

Minnesota law states that “all payments of compensation must be made directly to the employee or dependent at the home address unless the employee of dependent, in writing, authorizes payment to be sent elsewhere. The employee or dependent may authorize payment or be sent to a bank, savings association, or other financial institution.”

What this means is that the insurance company will send a check to the address they have down on file unless they hear differently from you. The law goes on to state three things that you must provide to your employer or the insurance company in order to have the funds directly deposited into a bank account. You must provide them with a written request that:

Informs the institution that you would like to have the funds directly deposited into a qualifying account.

Includes the name and address of the institution to which the funds are to be directly deposited.

Includes the account number where the funds will be directly deposited.

Once your employer or the insurance company receives this written request, they must comply with your request without requiring additional confirmation or information from the Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings’ Workers’ Compensation Division. The insurance company must also file a copy of the worker’s request with the state’s Workers’ Compensation Division.

This is a pretty simple process, but again, you have bigger things to worry about after a work injury. If you’d like assistance with this process, or you want us to manage your claim or your request for a direct deposit, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Dean Margolis and his team at Margolis Law Firm today.