Workers comp leave or not
System
5,885 Posts
I have an associate who left one of our stores in early March 2001 for medical treatment. We had no idea what she was being treated for or why. In July of this year, I received a letter at the corporate office from the Mississippi Workers Compensation Commission with the Petition to Controvert. Soon thereafter, we received the interrogatories, etc. We had no idea that this medical treatment was due to what she now claims as a workers comp injury. I turned this over to my insurance company and they have contested compensability. The claim is currently in litigation.
Twice we have forwarded FMLA papers to her but she has not responded. We know that she has received them because the store manager handed the papers to her the second time and explained what she needed to do.
It is now mid-October and I feel that we have allowed sufficient time for her to respond. I would like to send her a certified letter stating that if she does not respond by a certain date that we will consider this a voluntary termination. (Since the workers comp claim has been contested.)
If we leave this individual as an active associate in the company, we will continue to pay health care benefits. Since we are self funded, we will have to pay the claim out of our health benefits if workers comp does not cover this. Currently, we pay all of the premium for this employee and she hasn't worked since March and she has not completed FMLA papers. We want to send her the letter that I mentioned and proceed with termination so that we will not be incurring these monthly premiums.
Your thoughts, please.
Twice we have forwarded FMLA papers to her but she has not responded. We know that she has received them because the store manager handed the papers to her the second time and explained what she needed to do.
It is now mid-October and I feel that we have allowed sufficient time for her to respond. I would like to send her a certified letter stating that if she does not respond by a certain date that we will consider this a voluntary termination. (Since the workers comp claim has been contested.)
If we leave this individual as an active associate in the company, we will continue to pay health care benefits. Since we are self funded, we will have to pay the claim out of our health benefits if workers comp does not cover this. Currently, we pay all of the premium for this employee and she hasn't worked since March and she has not completed FMLA papers. We want to send her the letter that I mentioned and proceed with termination so that we will not be incurring these monthly premiums.
Your thoughts, please.
Comments
Focus on performance and/or failure to follow company policies, ie. reporting WC injury, failure to complete FMLA forms, not calling in absences (?? no call no show 3 times = termination ??), you can't perform your job if you're not available to work. An attorney's advice is critical right now, to help you determine your reason for termination and sufficient documentation to support the decision.