| (a) Accrued but unpaid income benefits are those benefits which
either:
(1) have accrued during a period of dispute over insurance
carrier (carrier) liability for the claim or injured employee entitlement
to the benefits; or
(2) have not been paid by the date the carrier was required
to pay them.
(b) Carriers shall include simple interest in all payments
for accrued but unpaid income benefits.
(c) Income benefits accrue in either weekly or monthly pay
periods, as otherwise provided by the Texas Workers' Compensation Act and
this title, and interest shall be calculated separately for each pay period
based on the length of time the benefits for that pay period remained accrued
and unpaid.
(1) For pay periods in which benefits accrued while in dispute
as provided in subsection (a)(1) of this section, the carrier shall pay interest
for number of days between the seventh day after the day the benefits accrued
and the day the payment was made.
(2) For pay periods in which benefits accrued and were
paid late by the carrier as provided in subsection (a)(2) of this section,
the carrier shall pay interest for the number of days between the due date
for the payment and the date the payment was made.
(d) The rate of interest to be paid on accrued but unpaid income
benefits by carriers will be the rate calculated in accordance with the Texas
Labor Code, §401.023 and in effect on the date the payment was made.
(e) The following method shall be used to calculate the simple
interest to be paid:
(1) multiply the rate of interest by the amount in question
(to create annual amount of interest);
(2) divide the annual amount of interest by 365 (to create
daily interest amount); then
(3) multiply daily interest amount by the number of days
of interest that are owed.
|
