It seems so many loose their jobs, when employeers do not want to pay anymore for the health. They use excuses to rid themselves of workers who get sick. I hate what they are doing to people. I had my own business, my psysicians retired me, no choice. I hope you get all the benefits due you. I am sorry that this happened to you. ginnie

I agree with this. I live in MA and I was told by the Department Of Industrial Accidents that your employer can lay you off but cannot fire you. It must differ from state to state.

Your employer is prohibited from firing you because you have filed a worker's compensation claim. They are also supposed to be prohibited from taking adverse action for work-related injuries, asking about worker's compensation coverage, or seeking medical treatment for an on-the-job injury. That is known as retaliation.

However, your employer can reprimand you for an unsafe act in violation of rules and safety standards, even if you are injured performing that unsafe act and file a claim. Your claim can only be denied if you acted intentionally to cause your injury, or is fraudulent. But your employer can move to terminate an employee who violates a rule and also happens to be injured doing so. For example, a tree-trimmer who is injured in a fall who is not wearing his safety helmet or climbing harness may have a valid w/c claim, even though he is terminated on the spot for violation of safety standards that led to his injury.

As far as being laid-off while out on worker's compensation, if a general lay-off occurs, in those states where I used to handle claims, an injured worker could be laid-ff due to work slow-downs, as long as the lay-off would have occurred even had there not been an injury. I had claims all the time where the injured worker had no job to return to. Claims were closed when you reached pre-injury physical status, or when a vocational specialist established there was work available that fell within your restrictions. Being laid-off neither ends a claim, nor does it extend it, unless there are restrictions to be evaluated that must be accommodated.

That said, we always advised employers to be cautious in handling discipline and lay-offs concerning injured workers with open claims. A work injury is not to be used as a tool for personnel to use to eliminate workers, nor is it to be seen as a means by workers to avoid discipline that is due them.

I got a phone call from my supervisor last night stating she would have to replace my position if I were out of work in January. I have been out since November 4 for my issue. No official dx has been made, FMLA paper work has been filled out for me to return to work but with lifting restrictions. My employer refuses to allow me to return to work and states I can't be on FMLA because of the lifting restriction, the dr would have to put me totally out for me to be eligible for FMLA. Now, there is no written policy stating that I can't work on modified duty, and accomodations are made for those who are injured on the job. Can they deny me FMLA and also, don't they have to make accomodations according the Americans with Disabilities Act? Any advice would be appreciated.

My "termination" was clearly stated in my union handbook, but not so clearly! lol. I had so many surgeries but returned to work in between them all for periods of time and only went out for the sugeries and recovery times. BUT because all of that time added up to one full year under one WC case claim number, they could terminate me. Had each or some of the surgeries been filed under seperate WC claim numbers, I would still have my job today, well not today because of the disability the hands have caused after all of the surgeries combined, but you understand right? Pretty crappy how they can worm around that. To boot, my surgeries were over a period of 3 years, imagine that, and I even had them do some of the surgeries 2 at a time (same hand) when they could to eliminate extra time out of work for recovery.

Yet I worked with people who missed as much work just by calling in sick for the heck of it and they were able to keep their jobs! Amazing!! I literally worked with a woman who for the almost 11 years I was there never and I mean never worked a full week. She was employed there for 28 years (just recently passed away at 51/52 years of age )

I have been out on WC for ab out 23 years.I was fired just about the time the "you can't fire her letter" went to the company. I didn't find out about it until
something like 5 years later. They had started sending me my pension check and I asked the clerk on the phone how t hey decided how much to pay me. She said the amount of the time you have been with the company and how old you were when you left the company. I said I didn't leave the company I am on WC. Then my attorney wouldn't file a wrongful termination letter. Hah! I can imagine them saying.