In this video, we will address whether or not you receive full pay if you have a workers’ compensation injury. My name is Matt Eason. I have been practicing employment and workers’ compensation rights here in the Sacramento area for over 25 years. When clients come to our office suffering from an injury, one of the first things, understandably, they want to know is will they receive full pay if they were injured on the job.
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While we’re going to break that question down into a few different components, the short answer is no, but it may not be all that bad. The first issue has to do with full pay based on your period of temporary disability. The second question has to do with your period of full pay on permanent disability.
During the temporary disability stage, when you’ve been injured, and you cannot return to your full duties, or your employer does not have “light duty” or modified duties based on your limitations, then you may have the right to temporary disability payments. There can, however, be a gap in when temporary disability payments start, when they end, and how much they are.
Traditionally speaking, temporary disability payments start when you have been off work for more than three full days, you were hospitalized, or if your combined time off of work was more than 14 days, then it was retroactive to your first day off work. Consequently, if your injury lasts only a few days, you usually have to use sick leave, paid time off, or maybe not receive any pay whatsoever.
Likewise, temporary disability ends after you’ve received 104 cumulative weeks of temporary disability. So, in other words, after they piece together two full years of time off, on or off or consecutive, then your temporary disability ends in California for most cases. In addition to potential gaps of when temporary disability begins and limits as to when it ends, there is also a dollar limit as to temporary disability.
Temporary disability payments are historically calculated at two-thirds of your average weekly earnings. Consequently, if you’ve been working overtime on a regular basis, you need to be sure and take that into account. While you typically receive two-thirds of your average weekly earnings, not the full pay, the good news is that workers’ compensation benefits are generally not taxable. As such, the gap is not quite as dramatic.
If you are off of work because of a workers’ compensation claim and have concerns about whether or not you have been receiving proper pay or the proper disability, I hope you will consider reaching out to our firm. My name again is Matt Eason, and I am with the law office of Eason & Tambornini.
