Can You Get Fired While On Workers Compensation

An experienced workers compensation attorney can help you in handling a termination while on workers compensation leave.
Can you get fired while on workers compensation. If you are fired while you are receiving treatment you should be suspicious that your employer is terminating you because of your workers compensation claim. While you can be fired while on workers compensation employees who are covered by the family medical leave act of 1993 receive up to 12 weeks of unpaid job protected leave. How the decision plays out will be largely out of the hands of the employer themselves especially when you get a lawyer involved early in the process who knows the ins and outs of the law pertaining to workers compensation claims. Can you be fired while on light duty.
Proving employer retaliation is not easy. The short answer is that pennsylvania is an at will employment state meaning that an employer can terminate the employment relationship at any time except for specific reasons discrimination such as age race religion sexual orientation. Whilst this prohibition is a criminal provision the conduct of your employer in terminating you because you make a claim for workers compensation will create a civil liability upon your employer to which you can sue for modest compensation under the protections found in the fair work act cwth. Give yourself a fighting chance by working with a west palm beach workers compensation lawyer.
However that doesn t mean that you can t be fired while you have an open workers compensation file. A good lawyer can go a long way toward a successful outcome in filing a lawsuit to protect your rights. If you genuinely believe you have been fired while on workers compensation because of the claim you should contact an attorney. While you cannot be terminated simply because of a worker s compensation claim it is possible to be terminated while you have an open worker s compensation claim.
Sometimes employers are forced to let disabled employees go because they simply can t wait for the injured person to get better and return to work. If you believe your employer fired you because you filed a workers compensation claim you deserve justice. However wage loss benefits under workers compensation must still be paid while you are disabled. The law does not guarantee employment when you are hurt on the job.
Of course your employer may not be firing you in retaliation for filing a claim if your employer is laying off many people it is possible it is not retaliation. The protections from the family medical leave act fmla often are applied at the same time as ny workers compensation benefits. Bad employers try to escape.