Temporary Total Disablement (TTD)
Temporary total disablement (TTD) is the temporary inability of an insured person, as defined in personal accident wordings, to carry out their usual occupation as a result of an accident; it is compensated by a weekly benefit that is limited to salary or a share of salary, subject to an excess period and restricted to a maximum benefit period.
Concept
Temporary total disablement exists where the insured person, because of an accidental injury, is temporarily and wholly unable to carry out all material parts of their usual occupation and is under medical care. Where they are unable to carry out a substantial part of their occupation, wordings speak of temporary partial disablement (TPD) with a proportionate benefit, frequently limited to a percentage of the TTD amount or to the loss of income. The concept corresponds functionally to incapacity for work under Art. 6 ATSG and must be distinguished from permanent disablement (permanent total disablement), into which it may convert after a prolonged period.
Structure of Weekly Benefits
The benefit is agreed as a weekly amount – either a fixed sum or a percentage (typically, by way of illustration, 75–100 %) of average gross weekly salary excluding bonuses, overtime and commission – and is capped at actual salary or a share of salary so that there is no incentive to prolong the disablement. Three parameters shape the cover: the excess, deferment or elimination period (illustratively 7 to 30 days) during which no benefit is payable; the maximum benefit period (illustratively 104 or 156 weeks per accident, often shortened to 52 weeks for older insured persons); and the coordination rule under which benefits from workers’ compensation, statutory accident insurance, continued salary payment or other daily benefit policies are offset so that the total of all payments does not exceed the insured income.
Position in DE, AT and CH
In Germany and Austria the TTD benefit corresponds to the accident daily benefit under the AUB/AUVB, which is agreed as a fixed daily rate without reference to salary. In Switzerland statutory accident insurance pays a daily allowance of 80 % of insured earnings from the third day; collective supplementary accident policies close the gap to 90–100 % and cover salary components above the UVG maximum insured earnings, which is why the coordination clause is particularly important there.
Legal basis
- CH: Art. 6 ATSG (incapacity for work)
- CH: Art. 16–17 UVG (daily allowance of 80 % of insured earnings from the third day)