Missouri W/C
Neferlaw
22 Posts
I just placed an employee on FMLA who is on W/C. Under our FMLA policy, I am requiring her to use her sick leave, so we won't have as much money charged to our W/C policy, etc. The insurance adjuster told me he had never heard of anyone doing this, and W/C would still be required to pay her for any time missed, which would be a double recovery for her. Has anyone heard of this? Am I wrong to pay her for sick leave? Appreciate any help you can give.
Comments
(Edit)The claims person at your comp carrier is also wrong in his statement that they will pay him even though he is receiving his salary (sick leave). Just as if the ee were receiving temporary disability through an employer plan, the comp carrier should not double pay him. If you find out they are, you should object formally since the payment would impact your bottom line cost under the plan.
Yes, run all congruently - good move - however, since w/c usually only covers 60-75% of the lost wages - the utilization of the sick leave (or vacation for that matter) can only bring the person up to 100% of their rate of pay - it's not a measure you can use to somehow reduce your time-loss burden - it's a measure that employees can use to make up the difference in their pay. (Basically, it's a supplement to their time-loss checks.) Call back your insurance company and ask them if the payment of wages utilizing sick/vacation time will reduce your time-loss experience factor - if they say no, then the information I provided above is your answer. (Still clock all hours away as FMLA hours.)
I'm not as familiar with Missouri Employment Law & it's Worker's Compensation/FMLA agreements, but I did find this very interesting on the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations website: [url]http://www.dolir.state.mo.us/wc/faq_employees.htm[/url]
"Your employer has the option to keep you on regular payroll during your time off. You must agree to this in writing. Your employer cannot force you to take sick leave or vacation time while you are off work due to a work-related injury. You can, at your option, elect to use sick time or vacation time for the time you miss from work."
I would check with the Missouri Law Letter to see if they spell out the W/C & FMLA issues - I would also consult with the state themselves (I'm not afraid of 'em like others on the forum x;-)) and see if running the FMLA, the way you have it structured (i.e. forced sick leave utilization) and W/C is even an option in your state.
The reason we run these things concurrent is not to help people bring their wage up to its prior self. Its so that they burn their leave. By burning their leave while on one of these outages, they cannot then 'stack' their leave and use it after they return. This strategically limits their number of days off.
Also, I don't understand why FMLA would indemnify the employee... it is unpaid leave.
>is unpaid leave.
I'm not sure what you mean by indemnify, in that context. Putting them on FMLA has nothing to do with paying or not paying them and has no bearing on whether or not the employer chooses to pay them. The most sensible reason to do it is to start their FMLA clock as soon as possible so that they will burn those days as FMLA. That will diminish the total FMLA days available for them to use later in the year. In that regard, it benefits the employer chiefly, not the employee.
The federal Act allows that and it was with that concept in mind that the regs included the allowable concurrence of leaves. FMLA is a job protection statute solely geared toward the benefit of the employee. The employer does not benefit from this federal legislation in any regard. Therefore, an employer should 'seize' what he can as allowed by the Act. And, starting that FMLA clock concurrent with comp is allowed by the Act.