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Laying off an employee after Worker's Comp

63465176346517 2 Posts
in HR & Employment Law Vote Up0Vote Down

My company has an employee who has recently gotten off of Worker's Comp. benefits.  He was dropped by the W/C company after they gave him an Independent Medical Exam (IME) and the W/C doctor said that he had reached a "healing plateau".  The employee however still has work restrictions from his personal doctor that do not allow him to do much for our company.  We would like to lay him off for lack of work, but I am skeptical due to the sensitive nature of the issue (hurt back).  I work in Wisconsin and would appreciate any advice, thanks. 

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  • 2 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • IT HRIT HR 595 Posts
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    This is a situation where I think it is worth the money to have an attorney review all the facts of the case. There are a lot of things you need to consider, including how many other people are being laid off, how you came to the decision to lay these individuals off (what criteria did you use) and can you prove that this person would have been laid off if they had never been out on WC.
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  • Chicago1Chicago1 63 Posts
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    I'm with IT HR on this one--it's very tricky to lay off an EE who's been on WC.  You may have to consider numerous laws in this situation:  WC, disability discrimination, leave laws, etc.  I would definitely use an attorney to review all the facts and documents regarding this employee. 
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