Mo. Rev. Stat. § 287.170 (2026)

  287.170.  Temporary total disability, amount to be paid — method of payment — disqualification, when — post injury misconduct defined — benefits not payable, when. — 1.  For temporary total disability the employer shall pay compensation for not more than four hundred weeks during the continuance of such disability at the weekly rate of compensation in effect under this section on the date of the injury for which compensation is being made.  The amount of such compensation shall be computed as follows:

  (1)  For all injuries occurring on or after September 28, 1983, but before September 28, 1986, the weekly compensation shall be an amount equal to sixty-six and two-thirds percent of the injured employee's average weekly earnings as of the date of the injury; provided that the weekly compensation paid under this subdivision shall not exceed an amount equal to seventy percent of the state average weekly wage, as such wage is determined by the division of employment security, as of the July first immediately preceding the date of injury;

  (2)  For all injuries occurring on or after September 28, 1986, but before August 28, 1990, the weekly compensation shall be an amount equal to sixty-six and two-thirds percent of the injured employee's average weekly earnings as of the date of the injury; provided that the weekly compensation paid under this subdivision shall not exceed an amount equal to seventy-five percent of the state average weekly wage, as such wage is determined by the division of employment security, as of the July first immediately preceding the date of injury;

  (3)  For all injuries occurring on or after August 28, 1990, but before August 28, 1991, the weekly compensation shall be an amount equal to sixty-six and two-thirds percent of the injured employee's average weekly earnings as of the date of the injury; provided that the weekly compensation paid under this subdivision shall not exceed an amount equal to one hundred percent of the state average weekly wage;

  (4)  For all injuries occurring on or after August 28, 1991, the weekly compensation shall be an amount equal to sixty-six and two-thirds percent of the injured employee's average weekly earnings as of the date of the injury; provided that the weekly compensation paid under this subdivision shall not exceed an amount equal to one hundred five percent of the state average weekly wage;

  (5)  For all injuries occurring on or after September 28, 1981, the weekly compensation shall in no event be less than forty dollars per week.

  2.  Temporary total disability payments shall be made to the claimant by check or other negotiable instrument, or by electronic transfer or other manner authorized by the claimant, and shall be forwarded directly to the claimant without intervention, or, when requested, to claimant's attorney if represented, except as provided in section 454.517, by any other party except by order of the division of workers' compensation.

  3.  An employee is disqualified from receiving temporary total disability during any period of time in which the claimant applies and receives unemployment compensation.

  4.  If the employee is terminated from post-injury employment based upon the employee's post-injury misconduct, neither temporary total disability nor temporary partial disability benefits under this section or section 287.180 are payable.  As used in this section, the phrase "post-injury misconduct" shall not include absence from the workplace due to an injury unless the employee is capable of working with restrictions, as certified by a physician.

  5.  If an employee voluntarily separates from employment with an employer at a time when the employer had work available for the employee that was in compliance with any medical restriction imposed upon the employee within a reasonable degree of medical certainty as a result of the injury that is the subject of a claim for benefits under this chapter, neither temporary total disability nor temporary partial disability benefits available under this section or section 287.180 shall be payable.