What Legal Protections Do You Have After a Job Injury

[protector]

At the beginning of this month, a friend of mine was injured working at a job site. He is on workman's compensation and has made a pretty good recovery. In fact he was recently cleared for light duty with heavy restrictions. In a nutshell he can't work in his original position but he can probably do office work. But he will have to go back for additional treatment and checkups.

He thinks he will be able to keep his job, but I am a little worried about him.

1. Is he covered under FMLA?

http://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/

a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job;

If he is when does the 12 weeks start?

2. Even though he has been cleared for light with restrictions, is his employer allowed to him go? Even if he wants to come back to work?

3. Can he take any legal action to protect his job?

[cbg]

1.) FMLA *may* apply if both he and the employer fit the definitions of a covered employee and a covered employer. You are, however, not correctly defining a serious health condition. The little blurb you posted the link to is only a summary. See the link below for a full definition. Although taken from a state board, it shows the full Federal definition.

http://www.cs.state.ny.us/attendance...5-01_att_A.pdf

1a.) On the first day of his leave.

2.) The employer is not required by any law to provide light duty for him or to make up a job that he can do with his restrictions. If the employer has no light duty available, the employer is not required to allow him to return to work until he is able to perform his full duties, and let him go if the time he is out exceeds the 12 weeks. Note that in a workers comp situation, it benefits the employer to have him back to work as quickly as possible even in a light duty situation, so it is unlikely that they would fail to bring him back to work if they are able to accomodate his restrictions.

3.) There is nothing he can do now that will force the employer to return him to work. IF he is fired AND IF he has a valid and supportable reason to believe that his termination violates the law, which is by no means clearly established by your post, he can consult with an employment attorney at that time.

[protector]

1.) FMLA *may* apply if both he and the employer fit the definitions of a covered employee and a covered employer. You are, however, not correctly defining a serious health condition. The little blurb you posted the link to is only a summary. See the link below for a full definition. Although taken from a state board, it shows the full Federal definition.

http://www.cs.state.ny.us/attendance...5-01_att_A.pdf

1a.) On the first day of his leave.

2.) The employer is not required by any law to provide light duty for him or to make up a job that he can do with his restrictions. If the employer has no light duty available, the employer is not required to allow him to return to work until he is able to perform his full duties, and let him go if the time he is out exceeds the 12 weeks. Note that in a workers comp situation, it benefits the employer to have him back to work as quickly as possible even in a light duty situation, so it is unlikely that they would fail to bring him back to work if they are able to accomodate his restrictions.

3.) There is nothing he can do now that will force the employer to return him to work. IF he is fired AND IF he has a valid and supportable reason to believe that his termination violates the law, which is by no means clearly established by your post, he can consult with an employment attorney at that time.

Thank you for the information.

So if he is fully recovered and cleared for his original job with in the time allowed of 12 weeks, is his employer required to take him back?

Also if the doctor clears him fully and then a couple of weeks later he re injures the same injury, what then?

Sorry. I don't mean to split hairs. He is a really good friend of mine and he is not taking this seriously as he should be. He thinks his job will still be safe.

[cbg]

Assuming that FMLA applies, and we have not established whether it does or not, IF he is fully recovered and medically cleared to return to work within 12 weeks, yes, his employer is required to take him back.

If the doctor clears him fully and then a couple of weeks later he re-injures himself, we'll deal with it then because the exact details will matter. I don't deal in hypotheticals where the details could change.

There is no reason to think that his job is not safe from what you've posted. He doubtless knows his own situation better than you do - maybe you should trust that he's a grown up and able to make his own decisions without help.

[protector]

You are right.

Since the economy went into the crapper, I have seen some good friends lost their jobs and some makes some really stupid mistakes.

Can you clarify this?

1.)
2.) The employer is not required by any law to provide light duty for him or to make up a job that he can do with his restrictions. If the employer has no light duty available, the employer is not required to allow him to return to work until he is able to perform his full duties, and let him go if the time he is out exceeds the 12 weeks. Note that in a workers comp situation, it benefits the employer to have him back to work as quickly as possible even in a light duty situation, so it is unlikely that they would fail to bring him back to work if they are able to accomodate his restrictions.

Why does it benefit the employer to bright back the employee as quick as possible? Isn't it best to wait until the employee has fully recovered?

Thanks again. I will try to avoid the hypotheticals.

[PattyPA]

The benefit to the employer is that the more Work Comp benefits are paid, the higher the employer WC rate gets. Also, it has been found, at least anecdotally, that the longer an employee is completely off work, the longer it takes him to recover.