When is a three-day waiting period payable for a worker?

The three-day waiting period is specifically related to the duration and nature of a worker's disability following a workplace injury. When a worker is totally disabled for 14 consecutive days as a result of their job-related injury, the waiting period is triggered. This means that if the worker is unable to perform their work duties for this duration, they become eligible for compensation benefits from that point onward.

The purpose of the three-day waiting period is to ensure that only those injuries that significantly impact a worker’s ability to perform their job are compensated. In this scenario, if the total disability lasts beyond the initial three days, the worker may start receiving compensation retroactively from the first day of total disability, but only after the three-day waiting period is satisfied.

Other choices do not align with the criteria for the three-day waiting period. For instance, simply being injured does not automatically qualify a worker for this payment unless it leads to total disability for the specified duration. Similarly, being hospitalized or filing a claim does not directly correlate with the structure of the waiting period in question. Hence, the most accurate choice aligning with the criteria for the three-day waiting period is when the worker is totally disabled for 14 consecutive days.