In Pennsylvania, you are entitled to workers' compensation wage loss benefits until you can return to work in some capacity. If you recover from your injury and you return to your original job with your employer at the same pay, your wage loss benefits will stop, although you are still entitled to medical benefits until you are fully recovered.
Particularly in light of the tools available to workers' compensation insurers to reduce or cut off benefits, very few injured workers receive workers' compensation wage loss benefits for the rest of their lives; those who do have suffered catastrophic injuries (i.e., they are quadriplegics or have suffered severe brain injuries that leave them essentially unable to function).
Where things get more complicated is when you are released to return to work in some capacity, but you cannot return to your original job. Sometimes, workers' compensation will ask your treating doctor to complete what is called a physical capabilities form, on which your doctor will check off boxes indicating things such as how many hours in a day you can sit, stand or walk, what sort of restrictions you have on reaching, pushing and pulling, etc. Other times, workers' compensation will ask you to attend an examination with a doctor that it chooses, who will perform an examination and, based on that examination, will complete a physical capabilities form. If you are asked to attend such an examination, you must do so periodically (generally once every six months).
If workers' compensation receives either a physical capabilities form or any other medical record that indicates that you can return to work (either to your preinjury job or to a lighter job), it should send you a form titled "Notice of Ability to Return to Work" and a copy of the medical record that indicates that you can work. If you receive a Notice of Ability to Return to Work, review it and the
accompanying medical records with your doctor and your attorney. (If
you do not have an attorney, we recommend that you consult one).
Similarly, any job offer should be reviewed with your doctor and
attorney.
Sometimes, the Notice of Ability to Return to Work will be followed by a letter from your employer offering you your original job or a lighter job. Hopefully, your employer really wants you to come back to work and is acting in good faith. In some instances, however, it is attempting to lay the groundwork for an attempt to reduce or cut off your workers' compensation benefits.
If your employer makes a job offer, and your doctor does feels that you cannot do the job, you should report to work as requested and attempt to do the job. You should tell your doctor and attorney about any differences between the job, as described in the job offer, and what you are actually asked to do. If your doctor does not feel you can do the job, if you have not yet consulted an attorney, you should do so immediately.
Sometimes, you may receive a Notice of Ability to Return to Work, but your employer does not offer you a job. You should still review the Notice of Ability to Return to Work and the accompanying medical records with your doctor and attorney. Then, if you have not already been doing so, you should start to look for a job for which you have the necessary education and training that meets the medical restrictions that have been placed on you. (I.e., if you have been released to light duty, you obviously should not consider heavy construction jobs). You are not required to relocate; rather, the job should be within normal commuting distance for your area.
You should look online, in the classified ads, check with private job placement agencies, and check Pennsylvania's Career Link for job postings.
Click here to go to the Career Link page. You may also want to contact the Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation to see if you qualify for its services.
Click here to go to the webpage of the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation that applies to injured individuals. (You will need to select the "New Individual" link on the right side of the screen, then provide the requested information). This office is aimed at helping to retrain people who have been injured and have disabilities so that they can return to work.
If you find a job opening that is within your physical restrictions (whether in the newspaper, through a job placement agency or through Career Link), save a copy of the ad or print out the information regarding that job, then contact that employer. (If the ad says to call, phone the employer; if it says to send a letter and a resume, send the letter and the resume, etc.). Save a copy of any applications that you submit and any letters that you send, etc. If you make any phone calls, keep a written log of the employer that you called, the day that you called, the telephone number that you called, the name of the person to whom you spoke and the response that you received.
If you get a job interview, go to the interview appropriately dressed, and do your best to get the job while being honest with the employer if asked about any physical limitations. Make certain that you keep a record of the day of the interview, the person who interviewed you and the outcome of the interview.
If you get a job and it is one that you can do, congratulations. Make certain you promptly advise workers' compensation that you got the job since you are not entitled to receive total disability benefits at the same time as you are working, whether for your original employer or another employer. If you make less at your new job than your original job, you are entitled to partial disability benefits consisting of 2/3 of the difference between your preinjury earnings and your new earnings. (Because this calculation can be complicated, you should consult an attorney to make certain that you are paid the appropriate amount of workers' compensation). If your new job pays as much or more than the job in which you were hurt, although you will not be entitled to wage loss benefits, you are still entitled to medical benefits until you have fully recovered.
If you do not get a job, by attempting to find work that you can do and keeping records of the attempts that you made, you are establishing that you are acting in good faith. The records can also be used to help to defeat an attempt by workers' compensation to cut off your benefits.
Note that you cannot refuse a job or refuse to consider a job that you would be physically capable of performing simply because you do not like the nature of the work or because it paid less than your original job.
If you have any questions, please contact James R. Flandreau, Esquire for a free consultation so that he can help ensure that you receive and keep the worker's compensation benefits to which you are entitled and, if appropriate, receive the best settlement available.