If an employee is injured on December 1 and returns a completed DWC-1 on December 3, when does the waiting period for benefits begin?

• A. December 1
• B. December 2
• C. December 3
• D. December 6

Answer: (D)

The correct answer is that the waiting period for benefits begins on December 3. When an employee is injured at work, they typically have a specific timeframe within which they must report the injury and fill out required documentation, like the DWC-1 form.

In this case, the injury occurred on December 1, but the completion and submission of the DWC-1 form on December 3 means that the official notice of the injury is recognized starting from that date. Typically, there is a requirement for a waiting period before benefits can be disbursed, which often starts from the date the injury is reported or the claim form is submitted. Since the form was submitted on December 3, this is the date that initiates the waiting period for benefits.

The options that state earlier dates do not account for the required reporting and processing time associated with the completion of the DWC-1 form. Therefore, the waiting period effectively starts the day after the report is made, which supports that December 3 is the correct starting point for calculating the waiting period.