If I am receiving benefits but return to work, do I still receive the full work comp benefits?
When you suffer a work-related injury or illness, one of the benefits you receive if you have successfully filed a claim for workers’ compensation are payments to help you get by. These payments are commonly referred to as Temporary Disability Benefits, where your employer or their insurance provides you a check for the lost wages you missed for being unable to perform your task at work due to your work injury.
If you are unable to return to work at all, then you are entitled to receive Permanent Disability Benefits, which is like Temporary Disability Benefits except that these checks will be long term and will sum up to two-thirds of your annual income the year prior to your work injury or illness.
If you can return to work... However and are able to earn equal or greater wages than before the injury, then you are likely to stop receiving such benefit. Workers’ Compensation is only meant to cover periods where the injured worker cannot work at all or at his/her full capacity. Therefore, if after receiving treatment for your injury you are better and able to work at your full capacity, then you will most likely stop receiving workers’ compensation benefits because you have no need for them anymore.
To clarify,...Some injured workers are under the misconception that returning to work may be admitting that you didn’t have a work injury in the first place. This is wrong. There are many cases where the injured worker got better after treatment. That is the whole point of the treatment, to try to get you better. So, if you do get better, that only means that the treatment worked.
On the other hand, If you can return to work but are still experiencing a wage loss due to your injury, you may continue to receive wage loss benefits, but it will most likely be for a lesser amount. The reason it will be for a lesser amount is because you are working already and don’t need as much assistance.
In the end, All cases vary. Injured workers have different situations and different things going on with them. It is better to consult with a work injury attorney to get personalized answers and personalized attention.
NOTICE: Making a false or fraudulent Workers Compensation claim is a felony subject to up to 5 years in prison or a fine of up to $50,000 or double the value of the fraud, whichever is greater, or by both imprisonment and fine.