Slater's Case

Under the workers’ compensation act (act) there are three types of weekly compensation benefits an injured employee may receive: temporary total disability benefits (G. L. c. 152, § 34), partial disability benefits (§ 35), and permanent total disability benefits (§ 34A). The question raised by the employee’s appeal is whether he was required, once he was found to be permanently and totally disabled, to exhaust his temporary benefits under § 34 before collecting the higher benefits of § 34A, as well as the cost of living benefits of § 34B. The reviewing board of the Department of Industrial…