Lessons Learned Trying to Gain Workman’s Comp: Part 5

Lessons Learned Trying to Gain Workman's Comp: Part 5: Short Term Disability

If you haven't read the previous articles, you can find them here.

Part 1: The Company Doctor

Part 2: Having a Previous Injury

Part 3: Reporting The Job Injury

Part 4: Seeking Treatment For The Job Injury

The factory I work at offers many benefits. They offer health, life and a short term disability policy which will pay out up to 12 weeks. As long as you don't have an accident, the company I work for really is a good company as far as the benefits goes.

After my visit with the company doctor at her office I head over to work which is literally across the street from the doctor's office. It took me four minutes to get in my car at the doctor's to get out of my car at work. I go to see the "Health Benefits" manager at work to turn in my FMLA (Family Medical leave Act) paperwork. The manager already has a stack of paperwork there ready for me to sign. I tell her playfully "Damn you work fast", and she tells me she has already spoken with the nurse at the company doctor and knows that I won't be at work for a while so she has gotten all of my paperwork ready.

It seems everyone has spoken with everyone first today before speaking with me.

I sign the required paperwork for my FMLA, and sign other paperwork which is required for extended leave. The last bit of paperwork in this stack is the paperwork for short term disability. She tells me where to sign, and to activate it tells me what number to call. She tells me that they are going to ask a few questions, that the whole process may take five minutes. For the first six weeks I will receive 80% of my paycheck and for the second six weeks I will receive 60% of my check. It sounds great except for two problems.

Problem one is that it only pays the percentage based on a 40 hour work week. I haven't worked a 40 hour week since I began this job almost two years ago. So the pay cut here is staggering.

Problem two is one that I found while she was talking, not one she offered on her own free will. In the fine print, and there always is, it states that by receiving short term disability I have released work of all responsibility. I have already decided that work was very responsible so I wouldn't be receiving this short term disability even if I would need it very badly.

She tells me to sign the disability paperwork and write down what happened on it so she can fax it off on her end. I write down on this paper that I was hurt at work and would be unable to work for the foreseeable future. I didn't ask the manager that if I signed up for this would I be releasing work of all responsibility. I keep waiting to see if she'll be honest enough and mention it, after all she spoke with the nurse of the company doctor, and she knows I am looking for workman's compensation.

By the time I am done with all of the paperwork, she is selling me hard on how great this short term disability, still without telling me that I would be releasing work of all responsibility. I decide to simply agree with her about how great it is and leave. However, what would have happened had I not have seen that fine print? I would have just signed over my worker's comp case and been thankful to get my 80% check for six weeks.

About 3 weeks after being out of work, I get a phone call from the insurance company wanting the information that I have not called in yet. The adjuster on the phone is trying hard to get me to give her the information she wants and I am being evasive, finally I tell her I have called an attorney and that I am looking into a workman's comp case. She asks why and I tell her I was hurt at work and the adjuster lets me know that I cannot receive benefits if I was hurt at work. After talking for a few more minutes she tells me they need a few more medical records and she will be mailing me out a form to sign which would place a lien on any potential winnings from workman's comp we may receive. Yet unless I say work had nothing to do with my injury I wouldn't receive a check anyway so it seems rather pointless. When I brought that fact up to her she did say that I could fill the form out saying I was hurt at work and they could still process the claim, just if I won my claim for workman's comp then I would have to reimburse the insurance company.

Ok, now I have her talking out of both sides of her mouth. Now she is saying I can potentially receive a check from short term disability while my worker's comp case progresses, which sounds great because 12 weeks of an income would be great regardless how bad it is. Not so fast, let me break down a 20 minute further conversation.

If I signed off on this disability then I would not have a worker's comp case. Or, if I signed this form saying I was hurt at work, then ultimately I would be denied short term disability. It took 20 minutes worth of double talk, but the lien on my worker's comp is merely a rouse to get me to sign one way or the other right now. She was unaware of this but I had called the insurance company a few days before to get a little more information on the insurance and its benefits. If I choose to wait for six weeks to file my short term disability then I will receive checks retroactively. This is great because while the attorney is gathering information, I am building up potential checks from disability. In the event the attorney decides I have no case I can turn around and then sign up for my short term disability and still get something.

Everyone however is rushing you to make a choice right now, take your time and make some phone calls. Try to cover all of your bases as best you can.

In the next installment of my workman's comp articles I will discuss attorneys and I will go into further details about this conversation because it has a neat little part about doctor's notes and the manipulation of medical records.

If you have been denied workman's comp by work and are forced to hire an attorney, you can fully expect it to drag out anywhere from four to six months. The temporary disability offered by work will last for up to 12 weeks, but it will take roughly a month to actually receive your first check should you choose to take that route. No matter what choice you make there is going to be a struggle financially; however one road is going to be much more of a struggle than the other.

So you can imagine the pressure put on you to sign off on short term disability is great. Right now I am hurt and can't work. All I have to do is say I wasn't hurt at work and a check will arrive in the mail for up to 12 weeks. It's hard, especially when your family is looking to you for support if you're the main bread winner. Here I am three weeks into a potential six month fight and I can assure you it is difficult not to give in. Who knows how it will be six weeks into it.

To view the rest of my reports about my battle with workman's compensation, please go to my profile and subscribe to my articles. This way you can be updated when the rest are published.

Previous Articles:

Lessons Learned Trying to Gain Workman's Comp: Part 1: The Company Doctor

Lessons Learned Trying to Gain Workman's Comp: Part 2: Having a Previous Injury

Lessons Learned Trying to Gain Workman's Comp: Part 3: Reporting the Job Injury

Lessons Learned Trying to Gain Workman's Comp: Part 4: Seeking Treatment For The Job Injury