This guide explains Indiana rules and offers a preparation checklist. For help evaluating your circumstances, see our Indiana workers’ compensation practice.
What should you consider before quitting?
Practical suggestion: Ask an Indiana workers’ compensation attorney to review your written restrictions, any job offer, and your reason for leaving before giving notice. Ask specifically how the termination grounds below apply to your situation. This is preparation advice, not a rule that the Board requires everyone to obtain legal advice before resigning.
Do not use this article as an assurance that resignation closes a claim, settles it, or preserves any particular payment. If you are also being asked to sign an agreement, ask counsel to explain the whole document before you decide.
What do the TTD and suitable-employment rules say?
Under IC 22-3-3-7(d)[1], the listed grounds for ending TTD once it has begun include return to any employment; death; refusal of the examination required under section 6 or suitable employment under section 11; reaching the statutory duration or compensation limit; and inability or unavailability to work for reasons unrelated to the compensable injury. The employer must give the worker written notice on a Board-approved form. In other cases, the provision requires written notice of intent to terminate and of available employment, if any.
Why some Board guidance says subsection (c): Section 2 of SEA269 (2020)[2] renumbered the TTD termination provision from subsection (c) to (d), effective July 1, 2020. That explains the older subsection label on the Board’s informal-disputes page; this guide uses the numbering in the current 2026 code.
Applying those rules to resignation requires individual legal review. The listed grounds do not expressly name resignation; they include return to any employment and inability or unavailability to work for reasons unrelated to the compensable injury. As a practical matter, bring the actual job offer and medical records to that review instead of assuming that either the word “resignation” or the label “light duty” answers the question.
IC 22-3-3-11[1] addresses an injured employee who is only partially disabled and refuses employment procured for the employee that is suitable to the employee’s capacity. It denies compensation during that refusal unless the Board considers the refusal justified. Before compensation may be denied under that section, the worker must be served with a Board-prescribed notice explaining the consequences.
Practical suggestion: Ask your clinician to compare the offered tasks with your written restrictions, and discuss any concerns with counsel before responding. This checklist does not decide whether an offer is suitable or a refusal justified; section 11 makes capacity and the Board’s view of justification relevant to compensation during refusal.
Related guides explain when TTD checks can stop and refusing a light-duty offer.
What about medical care?
Medical care has its own statutory provisions. IC 22-3-3-4(a)[1] addresses employer-furnished care after injury and before adjudication of permanent impairment; subsection (b) addresses care during injury-related TTD. After a permanent-partial-impairment agreement or award, subsection (c) provides a different framework for further care, including Board authority within the statutory review period to require care necessary to limit or reduce impairment. These provisions do not expressly give a resignation-specific answer.
The Board’s employee guidance[3] says the employer directs medical care. Section 4(d)[1] also addresses care from another physician during temporary total disability because of an emergency, the employer’s failure to provide care, or other good reason. The employer pays reasonable costs subject to Board approval.
Practical suggestion: Before changing providers or assuming an appointment is covered after resignation, ask about authorization and have counsel review any disputed denial, agreement, or award. No promise is made here about continued care or payments after you leave.
What should you gather for a review?
The following is an editorial preparation checklist, not a statutory filing requirement.
| Bring this | Question to discuss |
|---|---|
| Written restrictions and recent clinical notes | Which tasks are in question? |
| Written offer, duties, hours, and pay | How does the offer compare with the restrictions? |
| Checks, correspondence, and any termination notice | What is being paid or disputed, and when did the notice arrive? |
| Draft resignation and any proposed agreement | What does each document say, and what needs clarification? |
| Any new job offer and start date | How should the change be addressed? |
Keep copies and a factual timeline. These are practical suggestions for an informed conversation, not instructions to characterize your reasons for leaving in a particular way.
What is the seven-day objection procedure?
IC 22-3-3-7(e)[1] requires a worker who disagrees with termination or proposed termination to give written notice of disagreement to both the Board and the employer within seven days after receipt of the notice of intent to terminate benefits. The trigger is receipt of that notice, not the resignation date. If the Board and employer do not receive a notice of disagreement under that section, the statute says TTD shall be terminated.
State Form 38911[4] instructs the worker to complete and sign the notice and send a copy to both recipients within seven days of receipt. It prefers filing through the Board website’s “Dispute Termination of Benefits” link and directs workers not to mail it to the Board unless they lack internet access. Do not assume an online Board submission also supplies the employer’s copy. The Board’s February 23, 2026 notice[5] announced a March 4 change to the online objection tool for attorneys, including an option to request an independent medical examination now or preserve the request for later. Its Gateway instructions[6] explain those attorney options. If you have counsel, coordinate the response with counsel; otherwise ask the Board how to use its public response tool.
Practical suggestions: Save the notice and envelope, record when it arrived, retain your completed response and delivery confirmations, and promptly ask the Board or counsel about the filing method. Section 7(e) calls for written notice to both the Board and the employer within seven days after receipt. A phone call or a response to only one recipient does not meet those stated requirements. As a precaution, confirm delivery promptly; do not rely on a last-day mailing. The cited materials do not describe this as seven business days.
The statute provides for Board efforts to resolve a timely disagreement and an independent medical evaluation if it is not resolved. An objection does not assure indefinite checks: section 7(f)[1] limits the employer’s obligation to continue TTD beyond fourteen days after its proposed termination date unless the independent examiner finds the worker temporarily disabled and unable to return to employment made available by the employer.
The Board also describes informal assistance[7] for payment delays, unpaid medical bills, and premature termination of medical or disability benefits. As a practical precaution, do not wait for an informal conversation to finish before addressing a termination notice.
Frequently asked questions
Does quitting automatically end every benefit?
The cited provisions[1] do not provide that blanket resignation rule. They address different grounds and conditions for TTD, suitable-work refusal, and care. Have counsel apply them to your situation rather than assuming either automatic loss or automatic continuation.
What if I start another job?
Return to any employment is a listed TTD termination ground in section 7(d)(1)[1]. As a practical suggestion, bring the start date, duties, and pay details to your legal review.
Will treatment continue after resignation?
This guide cannot determine that. The medical-care provisions[1] described above require a separate review of your circumstances; the fact that the Board discusses medical and income benefits does not establish continued care after resignation.
What if I receive State Form 38911?
Read the objection procedure above immediately. If you disagree, the form[4] calls for a completed, signed response to the Board and employer within seven days of receipt.
For a discussion of your circumstances, contact Delventhal Law Office about a consultation.
This article is general educational information, not legal advice. This page is not an agreement to represent you. Please confirm directly with the firm whether it has agreed to act for you and what work it will undertake. Do not post confidential case details publicly.
