Tag Archives: FMLA

What workers should know about coronavirus and workers’ compensation

Posted on March 23, 2020 by Jon Rehm

According to NBC News, at least 20 percent of healthcare workers in Italy have been exposed to coronavirus. Health care workers in Nebraska may be at a similar level of risk. Workers in essential retailing, warehousing and delivery are probably also at heightened risk of catching coronavirus.

So, what do employees need to know to about coronavirus and workers’ compensation?

Reporting possible coronavirus exposures on the job

Coronavirus cases could be difficult workers’ compensation cases for reasons I will explain below. But these difficult cases will be even more difficult in Nebraska if workers fail to notify employers in a timely fashion if they believe they were exposed to the coronavirus. Nebraska courts recently made it easier for employers to dismiss workers’ compensation claims if employees delay notifying employers about potential work injuries. I believe these notice requirements could be even stricter for healthcare workers.

Protections against retaliation for reporting coronavirus exposure and treating for coronavirus

Employees may delay exposure to coronavirus is fear of retaliation. Fears about retaliation will likely be heightened due to fear of job loss in the teeth of mass layoffs and skyrocketing unemployment.

But employees who report possible coronavirus exposure or coronavirus related safety concerns on the job are protected by a variety of anti-retaliation laws that protect workers who claim workers’ compensation and report safety concerns. I’ve written before about the relative weakness of these laws. I believe workers’ will be better served if they can report safety concerns as a group rather than individuals.

A request for time off due to coronavirus or suspected coronavirus may also be covered under the Family Medical Leave Act and the emergency amendments to the Family Medical Leave Act enacted to deal with coronavirus pandemic. These laws also have anti-retaliation provisions.

Why coronavirus exposure would be difficult workers’ compensation claims

The reason why Coronavirus infections may not be covered goes to the fundamentals of proving the basics of a workers’ compensation case: did the infection arise out of and in the course and scope of employment?

In the course and scope of employment

Course and scope of employment goes to having the injury occur within the time and place of employment. Usually in the course and scope of employment is not a disputed issue. But in a case involving a corona virus infection, it may be difficult to prove whether an individual was infected on the job or not. This could be a time and resource consuming investigation for an employee. Public health officials may do some of this legwork, but that information may not be easily accessible due to confidentiality concerns.

Workers infected during business travel are presumed to be acting in the course and scope of employment under the “commercial traveler rule.” But merely catching coronavirus in the course and scope of employment isn’t enough just to have workers’ compensation cover coronavirus related medical expenses and lost wages.

Arising out of

An employee also needs to show that the infection was connected to some risk involved with employment. In other words, employees would have to prove some link between their work duties and their infection. In some cases this could be challenging and would also involve time and expense and in investigation.

Employees may be able to argue in some circumstances that their work increased the chances of them contracting coronavirus. Health care, delivery, warehousing and essential retail employees could have an easier time proving exposure. Unfortunately, in Nebraska there is no presumption of compensability (workers’ compensation coverage) if an injury took place on the job.

Other hurdles of potential Coronavirus workers’ compensation claimants

Coronavirus cases would likely involve more investigation than a typical workers’ compensation case. But many lawyers may not want to take these cases out of economic concerns. In Nebraska, a lawyer can’t be awarded a fee for representing a claimant in a disputed medical bills case. Attorneys can take fees on disability, but temporary disability could be short in a Coronavirus case. In Nebraska, unless a disability lasts more than six weeks and an employer can avoid paying the first week of disability.

Long-term solutions

Last week the president of WILG, a group of lawyers who represent injured workers, called on the insurance industry to make it easier for workers exposed to coronavirus on the job to claim benefits. I think this is a good idea. The difficulties in getting workers’ compensation for coronavirus indicate the need for stronger health insurance and paid leave benefits to cover employees who may not be able to rely on workers’ compensation.

Stay tuned to this blog about more information about coronavirus and his its impact on workers’ compensation and workplace law. You can also check out my podcast for more commentary.

Protect yourself and right to workers compensation at your holiday job

Posted on November 25, 2019 by Jon Rehm

Nearly 13 million Americans work more than one job. Some people also take on temporary jobs in retail, warehousing and delivery during the holiday season. Here are some reminders about holiday work to protect yourself and your rights to benefits such as workers’ compensation.

Temporary jobs tend to have higher injury rates – Studies show that new employees are more likely to get injured on the job. If you are starting an unfamiliar job, you are more likely to get hurt. Don’t worry temporary and new employees can still claim workers’ compensation.

Fatigue and irregular shifts contribute to accidents – Many people will work a holiday job after their regularly scheduled job. Long hours make work accidents more likely to happen. Many retail employees are required to work overnights –particularly during Black Friday. Irregular shifts can contribute to fatigue which makes work accidents more likely.

Lost-time/temporary disability based on wages for job where you are injured – Workers compensation pays temporary disability when you miss work because of an injury. The problem with getting hurt at a part-time job is that if you are unable to work because of that injury, you are only paid temporary disability based on the part-time job wages. You can’t be compensated by workers’ compensation for lost income from full-time or other jobs unless you can argue that your job is seasonal. It is hard to prove season employment under Nebraska workers’ compensation law.

But employees can be creative in adding benefits to increase temporary disability. Permanent disability is paid assuming a 40-hour week under the Nebraska workers’ compensation act. (See Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-121(4))

How an injury at a part-time job can affect employment at your full-time job – Some employers are more willing to accommodate employees who were hurt on the job. If you get hurt at a holiday job, your full-time employer may not let you come back to work unless you have no restrictions. That is a questionable practice under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

But if you have to miss work because of an injury at a part-time job, you can still apply for FMLA. Also you may want to apply for short-term or long-term disability if it is offered by your employer. A workers’ compensation attorney can help you maximize your recovery when private disability benefits pay benefits related to a workers’ compensation case.

Are you an employee or independent contractor?– The answer to this question is that if you are working a holiday job, you are an employee. Package delivery is a growing job with the expansion of online shopping? Many delivery services try to classify their workers as contractors as a way to avoid paying workers’ compensation. If you get injured as a contractor working on a delivery job, it is very likely you can bring a case for benefits under the Nebraska workers’ compensation act. But it will likely require help from an attorney to get those benefits.

The problem with workers’ compensation award ceremonies

Posted on October 21, 2019 by Jon Rehm

Recently three injured workers were honored at the Comp Laude Gala put on by trade publication Workers’ Compensation Central. The event included a panel with the catastrophically injured workers who overcame their injuries.

Individually the stories of these workers are all inspiring. The Comp Laude Gala should also be credited for giving these workers a place to voice their stories. Too often workers’ compensation lawyers and the insurance industry either talk to or talk about injured workers. It is good to hear their perspective.

But the idea of an event dominated by the workers’ compensation insurance industry giving awards to injured workers bothers me for two reasons — the types of injured workers recognized are atypical and focusing on individuals ignores legal and political issues that impact injured workers and workers’ compensation laws.

Award winners aren’t representative of injured workers as a whole

The Comp Laude Awards recognized workers who were catastrophically injured. Catastrophic injuries and death claims are different than your typical workers’ compensation claim in that it is less likely compensability and nature and extent of injury will be disputed by the insurer. These workers and their families are less likely to have a bad experience with a workers’ compensation insurer or claims administrator.

Catastrophic injury and death claims are more likely to involve third-party liability cases. Injured workers with a viable third-party case have a better chance of being compensated adequately than an injured worker stuck with just workers’ compensation.

In his post about the Comp Laude injured worker awards, blogger Bob Wilson classified the award winners as advocates. Other types of injured workers were either adversaries or addled types who are less likely to accept their new condition and less motivated to improve their conditions. There is some validity to these classifications. But as other observers have pointed out everyone deals with trauma differently. Heroism should not be the standard that injured workers are held to when it comes to recovery from an injury.

Maybe the industry doesn’t believe that heroism should be the standard for injured workers. But the Comp Laude awards seem to signal that workers with more mundane injuries workers’ compensation injuries that they don’t have it so bad and they should suck it up.

Ignoring the social and political context of work injuries.

Wilson pointed to two police officers who were back to work after catastrophic injuries. It takes time, usually a lot longer than the 12 weeks allotted by FMLA, to recover from a serious work injury. But police officers are usually represented by unions and union workers usually have more generous leave policies that allows them the time to recover from work injuries and return to work. Union contracts also give employees more leverage in accommodating a disability beyond what they have under the Americans with Disabilities Act. But the role of organized labor in injury recovery seems to be ignored in stories that focus on individual heroism.

Focusing on individual tales of “resilience” also diminishes the importance of injured workers and their families taking actions to change laws to improve workplace safety and workers’ compensation laws. At least for the Comp Laude awardees, workers’ compensation laws seemed to work fairly well. But for no amount of money can replace the life of a family member killed in a work injury. The families of workers killed on the job have started organizing and advocating for workplace safety through United Support and Memorial for Workplace Fatalities (USMNF)

In the Canadian province of Ontario there is an injured workers group active in advocating for injured workers to improve workers’ compensation laws. Injured workers have also taken to protesting that provinces workers’ compensation board through the Occupy Wall Street-inspired organization Occupy WSIB. Sure Occupy Workers’ Compensation would be considered radical by Comp Laude Gala attendees and even by some plaintiff’s attorneys. But the spirit of Occupy speaks to the anger and disaffection felt by many injured workers — the so-called adversaries and addled.

Injured workers who fight for themselves and others in the political arena are advocates in the true sense. Workers’ compensation professionals, whether they represent employees or employers deal with the anger of injured workers on a regular basis. These workers don’t need lectures about mindfulness or acceptance. They need a way to channel their legitimate anger in a productive way to change workers’ compensation laws. Injured workers and their families are starting to do this across North America. Merely celebrating resilience among a select set of injured workers will not improve workplace safety or workers compensation laws.

Who is going to hire me with restrictions?

Posted on April 11, 2019 by Jon Rehm

Injured workers who are looking to return to work with work restrictions after an extended time of healing from an injury face some problems in returning to work. In many cases the injured worker has been off work well beyond any time covered by the Family Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and or any leave of absence policy, so they are unable to return to their old job assuming they could do their old job.

Workers in this situation often ask “Who is going to hire me with restrictions?” It’s a legitimate question. Here a few do’s and don’ts from my experience as a lawyer representing injured workers.

Do: Work with vocational rehabilitation

Nebraska offers vocational rehabilitation, VR for short, as part of our workers’ compensation act. Sometimes vocational rehabilitation can mean an injured worker gets paid their so-called temporary total disability rate while they go to school. More often this means a vocational counselor helps an injured worker look for work while they are receiving those benefits. VR is the Rodney Dangerfield of workers’ compensation benefits – it often gets no respect – but it can be very helpful for injured workers. It’s also not a benefit that an insurance company will often voluntarily offer to an injured worker like medical benefits or temporary disability pay.

Nebraska also offers vocational rehabilitation through our state department of education. That fact confuses a lot of my clients when I talk about VR through workers’ compensation. But if an injured worker has settled their workers’ compensation case or is fighting their workers’ compensation case, they can use VR through the state department of education to help return to work

Don’t: Assume no one will hire you

Disability discrimination is real. That’s why there is the Americans with Disabilities Act and parallel state laws. Under the ADA, it is illegal for an employer to discriminate against a qualified employee with a disability who can do a job with or without reasonable accommodations.

What that does that last sentence mean?. In plain terms, this means that so long as you meet most of the qualifications of the job, an employer or perspective employer should work with you to make minor tweaks to a job. Sometimes this means using a stool to avoid standing. Sometimes this means using a cart to avoid heavy carrying or lifting.

In practical terms, Nebraska employers claim there is a shortage of workers. I think business interests overstate this concern for political reasons, but as the job market has improved employers seems more willing to take chances on employees.

Don’t: Fail to disclose your restrictions or injury if asked by a new employer post-hire

In order for an employee to accommodate restrictions from an old injury, they need to know about the restrictions. While an employer can’t ask you about a disability pre-hire, they can ask about a disability post-hire so long if it is job related. The “Who is going to hire me with restrictions” line can get a worker into trouble if they don’t disclose they have some restrictions to certain body parts. Again, an employer needs to work with you to some extent on accommodating an old injury,

Failing to disclose an old injury can also make it more difficult to make a workers’ compensation claim if an injury with a new employer worsens an old injury. It can also be grounds to deny a workers’ compensation claim entirely. Failing to disclose an old injury can potentially be grounds for termination for dishonesty on employment application.

Don’t: Tell anyone who isn’t your lawyer or a family member that “No one is going to hire me with restrictions.”

Going back to the “Who’s going to hire me with restrictions?” It’s a legitimate question. But if an injured worker is still fighting a workers’ compensation claim, that statement said to the wrong person can hurt a claim.

Who is the wrong person? Anyone who isn’t a family member or your lawyer.

When a vocational rehabilitation counselor, doctor, insurance company lawyer, insurance adjuster or mediator hears “Who is going to hire me with restrictions?” they tend to think. “This person doesn’t want to work” and or “This person isn’t hurt as bad as they think they are.”

Why do they think that way? If you work on the insurance-side of workers’ compensation for an extended length of time, I think you tend to perceive cases from that perspective. Lawyers and doctors and other professionals look at work differently. Many professionals tend to live to work rather than work to live. I believe that professional class people glamorize blue collar labor and tend to get nostalgic about blue collar or service jobs they did when they were younger. Professional class people also tend to consume media geared towards professional class people that tends to cover the workplace from the perspective of business.

But regardless of why professionals involved in workers’ compensation case think this way, those professionals have a lot of influence over the value of an injured workers’ compensation claim. Injured workers need to be careful about how they communicate with these professionals.

What happens when an employee needs family leave after a work injury?

Posted on September 20, 2018 by Jon Rehm

Taking leave to care for a family member can be complicated by a work injury

Work injuries create all sorts of unexpected complications for injured worker. One complication is what happens when an injured employee on alternate or light duty needs to take time away from work for a family emergency.

If the employee has been employed with the same employer for a year, worked more than 1250 hours during that year and the employer has more than 50 employees within a 75 mile radius, then the employee could take leave for up to 12 weeks under the Family Medical Leave Act without worrying about losing their job.

If the employee or employer is not covered by the Family Medical Leave Act, then things can get sticky for an injured worker as the employer is not obligated to provide unpaid family leave. In Nebraska, an employer is still obligated to pay temporary disability regardless of whether an employee is fired or quit. But employers, especially ones that are self-insured for workers’ compensation, ignore the law which means that an employee has to wait for a hearing to get temporary disability benefits paid. There may also be a question as to whether an employer’s ability to accommodate a work injury but for a termination or quit should factor into how much an employee should get paid for temporary disability.

Although I haven’t encountered this issue, I suspect an FMLA eligibile employee who took family leave while on light duty could have an employer deny payment of temporary disability. Ultimately I believe a court would award temporary disability in that circumstance. In other words, the analysis for the purpsoses of workers’ compensation benefits would be the same even if the new employee has less job protections for taking family leave.

Short-term employees are already more vulnerable to injuries. Short-term employees also targeted for termination under policies that fire new employees for having “lost time” or “recordable” accidents. While you can, and I have, argued successfully those types of policies retaliate against new workers who get hurt at work, you can’t make the same argument about new employees who get fired for taking family leave. The law excludes new employees from the protections of the Family Medical Leave Act. The law allows employees to discriminate against new employees who need family leave. That’s not to say than a new employee who gets fired after taking leave can’t even have a wrongful termination case, but there would have to evidence of some unlawful motives for an employee to bring that case.

Three Clues Your Employer Doesn’t Want You To Return To Work After An Injury

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Jon Rehm

~~Apologists for~~ Thought leaders in the workers compensation insurance industry like to tout how they want injured employees to “return to work.” But insurance industry rhetoric about the importance of return to work is belied by at least three common scenarios involving employees with serious work injuries.

Employer requires an employee to resign in order to receive a lump sum settlement for their workers compensation claim: Early on in my career a defense lawyer told me that his client “Didn’t want their employees driving to the plant in an Escalade (this was the mid-2000s) after they settled their workers compensation case.” Putting aside the absurdity of someone who earns wages that would make their kids eligible for free or reduced lunch buying a luxury SUV after they had been off of work for an extended length of time, this practice indicates that some employers really don’t want injured workers to return to work after an injury.A recent discussion over the WILG listserv indicated that resignation as a condition of a workers compensation case settlement was a common practice across the United States. An agreement to resign normally comes as a separate severance agreement. Those settlement agreements may not be binding if an employer doesn’t include the right language in the release which is why an injured worker would want to consult with an employment lawyer or have a lawyer familiar with employment law and workers compensation represent them in their work injury.
Certain states, like Massachusetts, outlaw the practice of conditioning a settlement on resignation. Even in states where the practice is considered lawful lawyers may consider challenging such practices on the basis of anti-retaliation laws, unfair claims practice laws or causes of action that prevent interference with contractual relationships.
Employer requires employee to return to work with “no restrictions”. 100 percent healed policies are considered to violate the Americans with Disabilities Act by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and by some intermediate level federal appellate courts. Regardless of whether the Supreme Court or Congress ultimately decide such policies are illegal, oftentimes a person with an injury that requires surgery and time off from work is going to have some permanent restrictions.Many times requests that an employee return to work without restrictions are sent after an employee exhausts their 12 weeks of FMLA. Oftentimes employers will extend a short amount of unpaid leave in addition to FMLA. When injured employees receive these letters many of them feel like their company is trying to push them out. This feeling can sometimes be correct. That’s why it is helpful to have an attorney who knows how workers compensation and employment laws intersect.
Employer suggests that employee apply for private disability for a work injury: Private short-term (STD) and long-term disability (LTD) policies can be helpful to employees. Some policies even allow employees to collect both LTD and STD with workers compensation benefits.But some employers will push employee onto disability because it is cheaper than paying workers compensation benefits. Even more insidiously if an employee stays off work long enough that they are eligible for long term disability, some long-term disability policies require that employees apply for social security disability or SSDI in order to continue receiving LTD. Many of these policies hold if an employee receives SSDI they need to payback the LTD insurance company for the time that SSDI and LTD benefits overlapped.
I ran into a policy like this representing a client in a disability discrimination case. Courts have questioned the legality of these policies as well. If you are stuck in a situation where you are applying for long term disability because of a work injury and being forced to apply for SSDI, you should consult with a lawyer who is familiar with workers compensation and SSDI.

How the Supreme Court Decision on Same-sex Marriage Applies in the Workplace, Part 2: Family and Medical Leave Act

Posted on July 30, 2015 by Jon Rehm

Another consequence of the decision legalizing same-sex marriage is that same-sex spouses are eligible for FMLA leave to take care of a spouse with a serious health condition. This raises some difficult practical questions, such as how FMLA leave works for same-sex couples that include:

Can an employer ask for a marriage certificate when an employee asks for leave to take care of a same-sex spouse?

The answer to this question is probably yes. The U.S. Department of Labor states that an employer can ask for a verification of marriage so long as they don’t discriminate in the requirement. An employee with a newly legally recognized same-sex marriage may feel inconvenienced that they have to prove their marital status to get FMLA leave. They might also feel they are being discriminated against because heterosexual individuals aren’t asked to provide a marriage certificate when they take FMLA leave to take care of their spouse. However, if an employer requires heterosexual couples to verify marriage through a producing a marriage certificate for insurance purposes, it could make sense that a heterosexual person is not asked to produce a marriage certificate to take family leave, if they have already done so for insurance purposes.

Taking family leave can be stressful, and I am sure there are some human-resources officials who hold anti-LGBT attitudes. But even if an employer doesn’t request a marriage certificate for heterosexual couples to verify FMLA leave, employees should assume that the request is made in good faith. Courts favor individuals who comply with the requests of their employers, even if those requests aren’t made within the letter of the law.

In states where marriage was same sex marriage was legalized by Obergefell, when do FMLA protections start?

In states like Nebraska, where the Obergefell decision legalized same-sex marriage, an interesting question is whether an employer is required to retroactively count family leave as FMLA if the leave started before the marriage was formally legalized in that state but the individual’s same-sex marriage was recognized in another state. This is a pertinent issue in Nebraska, since many same sex-couples were married in nearby Iowa, which has recognized same-sex marriage since 2009. The U.S. Department of Labor would likely argue that if you married your same-sex partner in Iowa that you would have had FMLA protections in Nebraska to take care of your spouse even if Nebraska didn’t recognized same marriage until June 26, 2015. But courts may not give much weight to the opinion of the U.S. Department of Labor. This issue is a legal toss-up. The best thing that same-sex couples can do to protect their rights to FMLA leave is to not give their employer any valid excuses for terminating them for taking FMLA leave.

Please click here to read part one of this series. Feel free to contact our office if you have questions about the issues raised in these two posts.

Here’s the Reality of Workers’ Compensation, the ADA, and Going Back to Work

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Jon Rehm

As shown by a recent post from LexisNexis Legal Newsroom, workers’ compensation insurers and employers are finally starting to understand the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Hopefully the days of employers firing employees after their 12-week FMLA leave when the employee can’t come back to work “full duty” and/or “with no restrictions” are behind us. But just because most employers and workers’ compensation insurers are now complying with basic requirements, doesn’t mean that injured workers will be able to successfully defend their rights under the ADA and their ability to maintain employment.

Employers and insurers understand the importance of the “interactive process” and how it should involve the employee and the employer. But this is too simple. The process involves a doctor who may or may not know the employer’s true job restrictions. The insurer/employer can also be represented by a nurse case manager who is familiar with medical terminology, practice and might even have a pre-existing relationship with the doctor. That nurse case manager could also be in communication with an employer and have an idea of a job that the employee can be placed into.

In this situation, the employee is at a disadvantage. The employee usually doesn’t understand medical terminology or know the doctor. In addition, an employee probably won’t have a job description to present to the doctor so they will be at a disadvantage in return to work. This situation can be made worse if an employee appears to a doctor as if they don’t want to go back to work.

So what can an employee do?

1. Ask for actual copies of job descriptions. This way an employee is armed with the facts about the job. Furthermore, they can tell the doctor if the job description is accurate. Assuming the employee is credible in what they tell the doctor, they will have more basis than a nurse case manager in being able to describe the job.

Next, an employer has an obligation to engage in a “good faith interactive process.” If management decides that they won’t give out written job descriptions to injured workers who request them for the purpose of determining work restrictions, then that would be evidence of bad faith on the part of the employer.

2. If you can, pick your own doctor or surgeon. Unfortunately, some doctors are generally unwilling to give injured workers a fair break and can be way too cooperative with insurers or major employers. In Nebraska, employees can pick their own treating doctor and can pick their surgeon even if they give up their initial right to pick their doctor. Exercising doctor choice at least gives employees some control over their medical care and it makes it more likely that they will find a doctor who will be cooperative in regards to the ADA.

Workers' Compensation Watch

Published by Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm

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Tag Archives: FMLA

What workers should know about coronavirus and workers’ compensation

Protect yourself and right to workers compensation at your holiday job

The problem with workers’ compensation award ceremonies

Who is going to hire me with restrictions?

What happens when an employee needs family leave after a work injury?

How the Supreme Court Decision on Same-sex Marriage Applies in the Workplace, Part 2: Family and Medical Leave Act

Here’s the Reality of Workers’ Compensation, the ADA, and Going Back to Work

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