I want to terminate

zen

A new employee was on the job for about a week when he was injured on the job and had to have a surgical repair of a broken leg. His health and life insurance benfits had not gone into effect as he had not yet worked 30 days. He has surgery and is covered by WC. The physician gives him a date to return to work for light duty. He doesn't show up or call on the return date. I say after three days we should terminate for job abandonment as long as he was given documentation and understood the return to work date. It wasn't done.

After about a week, he is contacted by WC and a branch ee to clarify return to work. He shows up at the workplace impaired by pain medication to the extent he cannot walk and says he will return the following day. I say document, document, document.

He never shows up. I again say terminate. I am overruled.

He has left the state, but the branch refuses to terminate because they have been told by the WC caseworker that they cannot. I think that's bull. In the meanwhile, benefits are about to be activated, the guy is gone and cannot be reached, and we have no termination documentation on him.

Finally, my question: Do ANY of you know of any possible reason on God's green earth why the WC caseworker would tell my branch admin that the ee cannot be terminated for job abandonment? WTH?

Don D

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 09-17-04 AT 02:41PM (CST)[/font][br][br]The comp caseworker has no authority to tell you to terminate or not to terminate. They work claims, manage treatment interraction, followup, push and pull paper and encourage light duty. Workers Comp law in every state is distinct. The comp carrier does not have that authority.

I can think of absolutely no reason for the employee not to be terminated, this afternoon.

HRratrace

I agree 100% with DonD's response.
The case manager has no say in the matter.

I recently term'd an EE who was on WC (see my recent post "what to do"). I got a call from the case manager today questioning our decision and hinting wrongful termination. I told her it was the companys decision to terminate, not the carriers, and that we had taken a number of facts into consideration before deciding to terminate. I advised her to settle the claim and to move on.

Bottom line - it's the companys decision and no one elses. If you feel you have strong grounds to terminate, then do it.

WT

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 09-20-04 AT 07:03AM (CST)[/font][br][br]Most Workers' Compensation laws have anti-discrimination provisions. I do not know what is written in your particular state law. The object is simple. If workers are fired when they report injuries, pretty soon nobody will report any injuries. In our state, the rule of thumb is that you can terminate an employee as long as you can show that he or she would have been terminated anyway regardless of a work related injury. Ask yourself this question, if an uninjured worker stopped reporting for work and moved away, would you terminate. As to the WC people, they are most likely just trying to save themselves from aggravation or paperwork. These are the same folks that will tell you to bring an injured employee back and sit him in the corner counting ceiling tiles just so they can stop paying benefits. Their best interests do not necessarily run parallel to yours. Good luck.