Income replacement

The Personal Injury Protection Plan (PIPP) provides income replacement to people who were working (full or part-time) or could have been working when the accident happened. It covers 90 per cent of your net employment insurance benefits, lost wages or salary based on gross yearly employment income, up to a maximum that’s adjusted annually.

You’re entitled to income replacement, beginning on the eighth day after the accident, when:

  • A motor vehicle accident caused the injury.
  • The injury prevents you from performing all or most of the main daily duties of the job that you had at the time of the accident.

For more details, see our page outlining how we determine income replacement.

How it works

Income replacement payments start after we’ve received income information from your employer or the required business records from you. Once income replacement payments begin, a cheque will be mailed or deposited directly into your bank account every 14 days until you’re no longer eligible for income replacement. Income replacement stops when there’s no medical reason preventing your return to work. Income replacement is based on the income you were earning before the accident. Your past income tax returns and employment slips are the best ways to establish your income at the time of the accident.

For someone who was working at the time of the accident:

There is a seven day wait period for income replacement that commences the day following the accident.

For someone who could have been working at the time of the accident but wasn’t:

People who were employable but not employed at the time of the accident become eligible for income replacement based on a determined employment at 180 days after the accident. However, they are only eligible for income replacement if they still can’t work because of injuries sustained in the accident.

For someone who couldn’t work at the time of the accident:
People who had a physical or mental illness that prevented them from working at the time of the accident are not eligible for income replacement.

Establishing employment

We determine employment for people who were part-time, temporary or non-earners at the time of the accident and who still can’t return to work 180 days after the accident. Determining employment means establishing the type of work you could reasonably have been doing at the time of the accident. This employment then becomes the basis for income replacement and for your job search.

We determine the type of employment you were capable of doing at the time of the accident even if you were actually doing other work. To do this, we look at your:

  • education
  • training
  • work experience
  • physical abilities
  • intellectual abilities

Unless you could only work part-time, we’ll determine a full-time job for you 180 days after the accident. Your income replacement may go up or stay the same, depending on the job we determine for you.

We usually require a medical specialist to assess your physical abilities after we determine your employment. If this specialist finds that you can successfully do the determined employment, your income replacement stops. If this specialist finds that you can’t do the determined employment, you’ll receive income replacement based on the salary range for that type of job.

Residual capacity

Sometimes, an accident causes injuries that prevent you from returning to exactly the same kind of full-time work you had before the accident. However, in many instances, people are still capable of working at a different type of job. The insurance industry refers to this as “residual earning capacity.” This means you can still earn income, although not necessarily in the same kind of job or at the same pay level as before the accident.

We’ll determine your level of employability if, two years after the accident:

  • You’re able to work full or part-time.
  • You’ve recovered as much as you are likely to recover from injuries sustained in the accident.
  • You’ve explored viable employment rehabilitation options and can’t return to either the kind of work you were doing at the time of the accident or the employment we determined for you 180 days after the accident.

We’ll use the following criteria to determine the type of work you’re able to do:

  • education
  • training
  • work experience
  • physical abilities (after the accident and rehabilitation)
  • intellectual abilities (after the accident and rehabilitation)
  • knowledge or skills acquired during a rehabilitation program, if applicable

The residual capacity employment will be full-time employment, unless you can only work part-time because of injuries sustained in the accident. It will also be based on employment normally available where you live.

We identify the type of employment that best matches your skills, training and post-accident abilities and capacity. Before we determine employment, a case manager will meet you to answer your questions. Once we officially inform you, in writing, of the employment determination, you begin the “job-search year.”

Job-search year

During the job-search year, income replacement continues as long as you continue to be eligible for the benefit. We will reduce your income replacement by any income you earn during the job-search year.

When the job-search year is over, there are three possibilities:

  1. You have work that pays the same or more than the income replacement you’ve been receiving.
    Income replacement will end.
  2. You’re working at a job that pays less than the income replacement you’ve been receiving and less than your determined employment.
    We’ll reduce the income replacement you’ve been receiving by whichever of these is highest:

    — how much your job pays
    — how much your determined employment pays

    This scenario may leave you with some income replacement benefits to “top up” your income.

  3. You have not found work.
    Income replacement will be reduced by the income set for your determined employment.

    We can help you find work by providing you with job search counseling and training to improve your interview and resume-writing skills. Please understand that getting work is your responsibility.

Because it may not be possible for you to return to full-time work right away, you can return gradually and still receive income replacement. Talk to your case manager about your plans for returning to work and about the effect on your income replacement.

Occasionally, an injury that seems to have healed will flare up again. Income replacement can resume when a disabling condition caused by the accident comes back. PIPP provides you with a safety net in this situation.

If you return to work and the injury flares up, it’s important to identify the cause. You also need to contact your case manager to explain what has happened. In most cases, income replacement will resume immediately, without a seven-day waiting period, at the same level you were receiving prior to your return to work.

Workers Compensation

Employees covered by Workers Compensation are entitled to Workers Compensation benefits for lost income if they can’t work because of a job-related injury. If a Manitoba resident’s job-related injury happened during a motor-vehicle accident in Manitoba, the employee would also qualify for income replacement indemnity and other benefits under PIPP. Employees, therefore, must choose between collecting benefits under the Workers Compensation Plan or PIPP.

Benefits under Workers Compensation and PIPP are not identical. It’s in your interest to contact both the Workers Compensation Board and Manitoba Public Insurance to get information about the coverage to which you are entitled. You can then make a decision about which plan to receive benefits from.

Minors

Children under the age of 18 at the time of an accident are considered minors and are covered by PIPP. Under PIPP, minors receive:

  • A lump sum indemnity for each school term the minor doesn’t complete because of injuries sustained in an accident.
  • Income replacement for any income the minor would have been earning but can’t earn because of the injuries from the accident.

A lump-sum indemnity is only payable when a minor would have completed the school year if not for the accident. The indemnity becomes payable on July 1 for the loss of part or all of the preceding school year.

Entitlement to a lump sum indemnity stops at the end of the school year in which the minor turned 18. If a minor reaches 18 and is still unable to work and begin or resume their studies because of injuries sustained in the accident, income replacement begins based on the Industrial Average Wage for Manitoba. The Industrial Average Wage is set using Statistics Canada data for the earnings of all employees in Manitoba. See the PIPP Benefits page for more information on this year’s indemnity amounts.

Students

Under PIPP, a student must be at least 18 and enrolled full time in a secondary or post-secondary school. Or, a student may be a minor who has met the requirements for receiving a high-school diploma or provincial certificate of completion, and is enrolled full time in post-secondary school at the time of the accident.

PIPP provides a lump-sum indemnity to students for each term not completed because of injuries sustained in an accident.

Students who lose a full year of secondary school or post-secondary school because of injuries sustained in the accident receive a maximum lump-sum indemnity.

If the student misses one term of school, the lump sum is pro-rated. For example, if there are three terms in the student’s secondary school year and the student loses one term, PIPP will pay the student one-third of the lump sum indemnity.

When the student loses a full school year, the lump-sum indemnity is paid on July 1, following the lost school year. When the student loses a term or semester of the school year, the lump-sum indemnity is paid at the beginning of the next term or semester.

These lump-sum payments continue until the scheduled end date for the student’s current level of studies. For example, the end date would be the completion of high school if the student were in high school. If the student was in college or university, the end date would be the completion of a degree.

If the student is still unable to work or return to studies once the end date is reached, PIPP pays income replacement based on the Industrial Average Wage. This income replacement will continue for as long as the claimant meets the eligibility criteria.

We may also determine employment for students who are able to work.

Seniors

This section applies to people in one of these three categories:

  • A person 65 years-of-age or over who is not employed at the time of a motor-vehicle accident.
  • A person 65 years-of-age or over is employed at the time of a motor-vehicle accident.
  • A person being paid income replacement who subsequently turns 65.

People 65 years of age or over who are not employed at the time of an accident are not eligible for income replacement or the Retirement Income Benefit.

People 65 years of age or over who are employed at the time of an accident are entitled to income replacement if injuries sustained prevent them from working. We calculate the income replacement for an employed person who’s over 65 in the same way as for other claimants.

For claimants 65 years or older, who are employed at the time of the accident, income replacement ends when one of the following occurs:

  • The claimant is no longer disabled.
  • The claimant has received income replacement for five years.

If a person became eligible for income replacement before they turned 60, income replacement ends when they can return to work or turn 65. In this situation, when you turn 65, your entitlement to income replacement ends and you become eligible for the Retirement Income Benefit.

If a person became eligible for income replacement after they turned 60, income replacement continues for five years, assuming they continue to be unable to return to work because of injuries sustained in the accident. At that point, the person will be eligible for the Retirement Income Benefit.

Retirement Income Benefit

The Retirement Income Benefit provides a retirement income, for life, for people who have an ongoing disability because of injuries sustained in an accident and can’t adequately save for their retirement years.

To receive the Retirement Income Benefit, you first need to complete an application. The information you give us on your application will help us confirm if you qualify.

The Retirement Income Benefit is based on 70 per cent of your net income minus any other pension income you might receive, including Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security payments. If your pension income is more than 70 per cent of the net income used in our calculation, you won’t receive the Retirement Income Benefit.

The Retirement Income Benefit is adjusted on each anniversary after you became entitled to it.

People who receive the Retirement Income Benefit must:

  • Inform us of any changes in their pension income.
  • Provide us with a certified copy of their income tax return every year.

People who are receiving income replacement become eligible to receive the Retirement Income Benefit on either:

  • The day of their 65th birthday.
  • Five years after the day that their entitlement to receive income replacement commenced.

For example, a person who began receiving income replacement at age 63 will continue to be eligible for a period of five years. If their entitlement to income replacement continues until the fifth anniversary, that entitlement will then end and they will become eligible for the Retirement Income Benefit.

A person whose income replacement ends prior to the date they become eligible for the Retirement Income Benefit will not receive the retirement benefit.

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