How to Keep Your Job After a Work Accident
Most injured workers are shocked to learn that Nevada workers’ compensation law does not require their employer to re-employ them in some other position if they are not released full duty by their treating doctor. This can be devastating if you need the health insurance provided by your job, or you are an older injured worker that does not want to be retrained, or you had a job that paid well. With some early planning and innovative thinking, you may be able to avoid an unfair job loss by keeping the following in mind.
1. Readily accept whatever temporary light duty job is offered.
If your employer offers temporary light duty while you are undergoing treatment, show up on time, and cheerfully do whatever menial task is assigned. You want your employer to see you coming to work each day, even if you are assigned to a different department. Show that you are a team player, willing to help out, regardless of what is asked of you. Suggest some light duty work you can do if your employer does not offer it.
2. Talk to your doctor.
Ask your doctor early whether your injury is likely to result in permanent work restrictions, or whether it will only keep you from your regular duties for a few weeks. Be realistic about your situation. The sooner you know whether you are likely to have permanent restrictions, the better you can prepare and strategize.
3. Keep your supervisor informed.
Keep communicating with your supervisors if you are at home. Make sure that you or your doctor provides a physician progress report with your work limitations to your supervisor, or to the person designated by your employer, after each doctor visit. Let your supervisor know that it will only be a few more weeks before you can be put back on the regular schedule if that is the case. Offer to do some work at home.
4. Start planning for permanent restrictions.
If you think you will have permanent work restrictions, you need to develop a plan now for convincing your employer that you are a valuable employee even if you have some permanent restrictions. Write down all the parts of your job that you will be able to do. Come up with a way that you will be able to perform the essential functions of your job with some accommodations. Is there some other job you are qualified for with this employer? Talk to supervisors or human relations people now that can help direct your efforts to remain with this employer. Find out whether the Americans with Disabilities Act or Family Medical Leave Act are applicable and will help you keep your job. Ask your employer whether you would be qualified for some other position if you had some retraining. If so, you might be able to obtain retraining while recovering from your injury. Be creative, and ask your adjuster and employer to help you stay employed.
5. Get released without restrictions if absolutely necessary.
Some physicians can be convinced to release injured workers without any permanent work restrictions even though restrictions are ordinarily given for similar injuries. If you intend to go this route, at least have the doctor release you for a trial period of full duty for two weeks or for 30 days, with a follow-up appointment with that doctor. That way you can tell whether you are in fact capable of doing your job without re-injuring yourself, and you may more easily request vocational retraining if necessary. While you may be able to request reopening of your claim for vocational rehabilitation months, or even years later, if you are unable to do your job, reopening a claim isn’t easy, and there are limitations.
If you do have permanent work restrictions and your employer does not offer you a job, don’t panic. You should receive vocational rehabilitation benefits consisting of bi-weekly checks at 66 2/3 of your average monthly wage while you participate in a retraining program developed with a vocational rehabilitation counselor. However, what often happens is that that an injured worker accepts a settlement called a vocational rehabilitation lump sum buy-out instead of retraining. Then the injured worker goes right back to doing what he or she was doing at the time of the accident, but with a different employer, against the doctor’s restrictions. I don’t recommend that. Instead, make full use of a vocational retraining program after making sure that there are employment opportunities in your chosen career field.
By Virginia L. Hunt, Esq.
© February 2009
For more articles on Nevada workers’ compensation law, go to http://www.huntlawoffice.com.
Virginia Hunt, Esq. is a Nevada workers’ compensation lawyer, representing injured workers in Las Vegas, Nevada. She offers a free guide to the law for injured workers, and has useful articles for injured workers on her website at http://www.huntlawoffice.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Virginia_Hunt
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Keep-Your-Job-After-a-Work-Accident&id=2042352
