Many employers, when crafting their return to work policy, have the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) run concurrently with workers’ compensation. When an employee is injured they are not only given information about workers’ compensation and transitional duty, they are also given notice of their entitlement to leave under the FMLA. The FMLA covers unpaid time off over a 12-month period of time for employees who are recovering from a serious illness or injury, or for family issues such as caring for a seriously ill relative or after the birth of a child.
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Under the FMLA, employers who are subject to the FMLA, must provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to a full-time employee (who qualify for FMLA benefits) who has a serious health condition that keeps him or her from performing essential job functions. The employee’s job or a similar job must be reinstated at the end of the FMLA leave. The purpose of the FMLA is job protection/entitlement.
In most workers’ compensation and/or absence policies, return to work for occupational injuries is addressed. If an employee is able to perform transitional or full-duty, but does not want to accept those positions when offered they have the option of taking unpaid leave under the FMLA. Thus, when an employee is injured on the job, they received appropriate FMLA notification, as well as, an employee brochure provided about workers’ compensation benefits and obligations.
Some companies require an injured employee to use paid time-off benefits (accrued sick and vacation days) before unpaid time off. Injured employees receive their workers’ comp benefits but are also required to sue existing accrued sick leave and vacation days at the same time.
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Employees can continue to receive workers’ compensation until they are able to return to work, however, if they do not return to work and have exhausted their sick and vacation benefits and are at the end of the FMLA entitlement period, they lose thier jobs and must reapply for hire. The workers’ comp program runs concurrently with the FMLA period. Companies that do this find that employees get back and back to work very quickly.
Despite using their benefits, some attorneys still encourage their clients to stay out of work longer than necessary even though this is not necessarily the best decision for the employee, but it’s done to build up the settlement value of the workers’ compensation claim.
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WC 101 www.ReduceYourWorkersComp.com/workers_comp.php
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws are different. Consult with your corporate legal counsel or other professionals before implementing any cost containment programs.
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