W/C - conflict of interest
Melanie
37 Posts
To all:
I have an injured worker who I am trying to determine what to do next. She was hired as a contract driver - we run senior citizens to medical appointments as needed, no set schedules since medical appoinments vary, also, typically most drivers only work 3 days per week. Well, three weeks after she was hired she was involved in a car accident during one of those runs, therefore turning into a W/C injury. Well, the doctor has had her off since her accident which was March 19, because she has claimed numbness and pain in her legs. Since her accident the doctor has done an MRI, EMG, X-Rays, and a few other tests. The last test, EMG, came back negative, so the doctor has given her a release to go back to work, because he can find nothing medically that would cause her numbness and pain since he has run a million tests.
However, the injured worker is upset and says she isn't ready to come back to work because when she has tried to drive - since she can't feel her leg due to "Pain and Numbness", she said she runs stop signs when she tries to drive. I would love to send her out to drive again because I feel that with the doctor's release, she should drive. However, are we putting ourselves in a precarious situation since she claims she runs stop signs? I fear "fraud" of not wanting to come back to work because she makes more on W/C wages than she would through us. Because W/C assigns wages based on their previous year of work and not the wages and hours worked in the three weeks with us, her wages were set at $231/week, when most of our drivers only make $118/week since they are only as needed. Therefore, this makes me fear fraud, also, the longer she is off, the higher her amount of settlement she gets through our third party administrator, and the higher our risk with the BWC stays.
PLEASE HELP, I'M OPEN TO ADVICE!!
I have an injured worker who I am trying to determine what to do next. She was hired as a contract driver - we run senior citizens to medical appointments as needed, no set schedules since medical appoinments vary, also, typically most drivers only work 3 days per week. Well, three weeks after she was hired she was involved in a car accident during one of those runs, therefore turning into a W/C injury. Well, the doctor has had her off since her accident which was March 19, because she has claimed numbness and pain in her legs. Since her accident the doctor has done an MRI, EMG, X-Rays, and a few other tests. The last test, EMG, came back negative, so the doctor has given her a release to go back to work, because he can find nothing medically that would cause her numbness and pain since he has run a million tests.
However, the injured worker is upset and says she isn't ready to come back to work because when she has tried to drive - since she can't feel her leg due to "Pain and Numbness", she said she runs stop signs when she tries to drive. I would love to send her out to drive again because I feel that with the doctor's release, she should drive. However, are we putting ourselves in a precarious situation since she claims she runs stop signs? I fear "fraud" of not wanting to come back to work because she makes more on W/C wages than she would through us. Because W/C assigns wages based on their previous year of work and not the wages and hours worked in the three weeks with us, her wages were set at $231/week, when most of our drivers only make $118/week since they are only as needed. Therefore, this makes me fear fraud, also, the longer she is off, the higher her amount of settlement she gets through our third party administrator, and the higher our risk with the BWC stays.
PLEASE HELP, I'M OPEN TO ADVICE!!
Comments
Tough call!
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