If you suffer an injury at work, your life becomes upended. If you broke a leg in a construction fall, you won’t be able to work for months as you recover. If you are experiencing severe shoulder pain because of all the boxes you have to lift at your warehouse job, you may need to take time off and go through months of physical therapy. You may be concerned about how your injury will impact your employment status.
Will you be able to keep your job? Can your employer fire you for suffering a workplace injury?
Workers’ compensation and job security
One of the protections workers’ compensation laws provide is that you won’t lose your job because of a workplace injury. However, if at some point during your recovery, your employer has a job you can perform despite your injury restrictions and is in your area, you could receive a job offer that you could accept or reject. However, rejecting the position could spur your employer to seek reducing or stopping your workers’ compensation benefits.
If your employer seeks to reduce or stop your workers’ compensation benefits, the matter will go through an administrative hearing. You will have a chance to present medical evidence that your injury prevents you from taking the job your employer offered. Your employer may counter that argument by explaining how you could do the job within your injury limitations.
Getting help with workers’ compensation benefits
If your employer disputes the severity of your workplace injury, or tries to get you to take a job you don’t think you can do with your injury, you need to consult an attorney familiar with workers’ compensation laws. You will need help gathering medical evidence to receive maximum workers’ compensation benefits and presenting that evidence in an administrative hearing.
You shouldn’t have to worry about keeping your job when recovering from a workplace injury. With the right help, you can get the workers’ compensation benefits you need to recover and eventually return to work when you can.