Every so often, we will hear from a guy who has been sent back to work …. at the office, and wants to know what the deal is on that.
Here’s the deal: the disability benefits you get are called Temporary Total Disability benefits, and these are intended to pay you while you are completely disabled from working. And most of the time, when you are off from your normal job, you get those until you are cleared by a doctor to go back to work.
However, if you are not capable of doing your usual job, but are capable of doing some kind of work, and your employer offers it to you, you are obligated to go in and work. Usually this is office work, but as long as the physical demands of the job are consistent with your doctors restrictions, you cab be brought back to work.
There are a number of reasons a company may want to do this instead of letting you recuperate at home. One is that people who do physical work and are outside normally HATE doing office work and start pushing themselves harder to get back to work that much sooner to get out of the office.
When you are doing office work, you are entitled to get paid for it. If you are not getting your usual pay rate, you are entitled to get two-third of the differential. By way of example if you normally make $700 per week in your regular job and get $400 per week for doing office work, you would be entitled to get the $400 in wages plus a $200 disability check ($700-$400= $300, multiplied by two-thirds).
If you have a current worker’s compensation issue which you need help on, please feel free to call us at 312-263-1080 to discuss your issues and what options you have. There is no obligation to hire our law firm and there is no charge for the call.
I hope this has been helpful, and if you know anyone who can benefit from this kind of information, please feel free to share this information.
We are here to help truck drivers after an on-the-job accident. Knowledge is power, and the first step in protecting your rights is to know what they are.
Stay safe!
