Workers' Comp Settlements in Ohio

A claim can be settled. The employer or the injured worker files an application with the Bureau of Workers' Compensation that includes the signed settlement agreement and explains why the settlement is desirable. For state fund claims, the administrator must approve it, and the settlement does not take effect until 30 days after approval; during that period a party may withdraw consent (with limited exceptions for employers). A copy is sent to the Industrial Commission, where a staff hearing officer reviews it and must disapprove an agreement found to be clearly unfair.

Temporary total disability is paid as long as the disability is total. It stops when the worker returns to work, when the treating doctor says the worker can return to the former job, when suitable work within the worker's physical limits is made available, or when the worker reaches maximum medical improvement. The law calls for a review after 200 weeks of temporary total benefits, and ending temporary total benefits does not prevent them from starting again later. Wage-loss compensation is limited to 200 weeks for a worker who returned to lower-paying work, 52 weeks for a worker unable to find consistent work, and 226 weeks in total.

Ohio law creates a workers' compensation ombudsperson system to assist claimants and employers: it answers questions, looks into complaints about how claims are processed, and gives information about problems with BWC and Industrial Commission operations, but it does not give opinions on whether a claim has merit.