Some of the foremost common questions we get are from people that are worried about losing their workers' compensation audit benefits or who feel they're being forced back to figure. These are important topics – work comp benefits are a lifeline, and losing them can mean that bills aren't getting paid or that there is less food on the table.
Below is some information that we hope helps. If you do think you're being unfairly forced back to work or that your benefits might be terminated, you should contact an experienced work comp attorney. This will give you the best possible chance to protect your legal rights.
Are you in danger of losing your Pennsylvania workers' compensation payments?
You can lose your workers' compensation payments if you:
- Refuse to submit to reasonable medical services
- Refuse to comply with an order to have a medical exam
- Are convicted of a crime and are put in jail
- Fail to finish and return an employee verification form to the workers' compensation insurance firm within 30 days
Your lost wage payments can also be stopped:
- By a judge appointed to review the facts of your workers' compensation claim
- If you've got fully recovered from your injury and have signed a "Final Receipt" – signing this receipt means you agreed to prevent your benefits
- If you're assigned to a modified, or "light duty," position; you'll still be ready to collect partial disability payments if the work pays but what you made before your injury
- If you agree to receive a lump sum of money, also known as a "Compromise and Release"
- When you return to figure and are making an equivalent, or quite, you made before your injury
- The 500-week period of partial disability is over
- The time you had to gather specific loss payments ends; this point period has about supported the character of the injury
- If you die from causes not related to your work injury
If you think that you're in peril of losing your workers' compensation benefits and you do not have already got an attorney, you ought to contact one directly. We offer a no-obligation, free legal consultation.
How will you know if a request to end your benefits has been filed?
If a request to terminate your work comp benefits has been filed, you will receive a "Petition to Modify, Suspend, or Terminate." It's important to contact an attorney as soon as you receive this petition. Oftentimes there are strict deadlines to respond, and you should have an attorney inform you of your legal rights and represent you before a judge.
Your employer sends you a petition saying your workers' compensation payments should stop on the day you were examined by your employer's doctor. Will your payments stop?
The petition you received is named a "Petition to Terminate Compensation Benefits." Your employer filed the petition because they believe that you simply have recovered from your injury and may now return to work.
A workers' compensation judge will decide if your payments will stop. Until those hearings happen, you ought to still receive your workers' compensation benefits and payments. If you've received one of these petitions, we highly recommend you contact an attorney if you believe you're still too injured to work, or if your personal doctor hasn't released you to work.
You feel like you're being forced back to work, but you're not ready to return. Will you lose your workers' compensation coverage if you refuse to return?
If you feel that your employer is trying to force you back to work even though the company doctor doesn't think you're ready, chances are that your company will drop the pressure.
However, if the company doctor says you're ready to return but your own doctor disagrees, you can refuse to return to work. Though your employer may file a "Petition to Terminate, Modify, or Suspend Benefits," your payments won't change until a judge reviews your case.
If your own doctor feels you're ready to return to work, but you disagree and refuse to return to your job, be aware that there is a good chance you will lose your workers' compensation coverage.
If one or more of these situations apply to you, it's important that you contact a workers' compensation attorney right away. A lawyer can help you figure out if it's in your best interest to return to work. We can help with a no-obligation, free legal consultation.
