Need your help

mwild31

We're going to put some breaks on with our KOS program. KOS in WA state means, Kept on Salary. When one of our employees are injured on the job, instead of letting them go the Time Loss route (Time Loss is when L&I pays the lost wages - about 60% of their usual wage) we keep them on salary (which, of course, pays the ee 100% of their wages). The benefit for us doing so is that our experience factor (how L&I assesses our payments) stays low & the ee receives full wages. Here's the rub. When we have ee's out for long periods of time, we end up paying quite a bit in wages and the cost/benefit of continuing to pay KOS tips out of balance. I would like to know if any of you would be willing to share your worker comp. programs/policies with me? Initially, I'm thinking we will more than likely only allow KOS for a maximum of 8 weeks, but I would love to hear what others do. My email is available on this site. Thank you in advance for all of your help!

Balloonman

With a number of my restricted duty policies in the past we reviewed the status every 13 weeks. One employer let folks go after being out 26 weeks.
Never hurts to put a review date in to prevent long term abuse.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

mwild31

Thanks DJ for the response. I'm still formulating a policy. Fortunately, my worker comp. folks have a program that helps to estimate the cost of KOS vs. Time Loss. Thanks again!