Have you been injured at work or become sick because of your job? If so, you may be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. Not only that, but you may also be able to receive your normal benefits under certain circumstances while you are receiving workers’ compensation. Your best strategy to ensure you receive everything you are entitled to be to hire a skilled workers’ compensation attorney like those at Eason & Tambornini, who will explore all options and get you through the process as smoothly as possible.
Workers’ Compensation: Five Basic Benefits
Workers’ Compensation benefits are designed to assist employees injured while working or become ill due to their job. These are the five types of workers’ compensation benefits that employers are required to offer employees in California:
- Medical care: Payments for necessary medical care during recovery from a verified work-related injury or illness.
- Temporary disability: Payments are designed to help with some lost wages if you cannot work during recovery.
- Permanent disability: If you do not fully recover from your work-related injury or illness, permanent disability benefits replace a portion of your wages.
- Supplemental job displacement (2004 or later): Vouchers that help defer costs for retraining or skill improvements if you cannot recover and do not return to your job fully.
- Death benefits: Benefits paid to a spouse, children, or other dependents of the deceased if a job-related injury or illness results in death.
Regular Health Insurance Benefits: How They Work With Workers’ Compensation
Before 2002, an employer could not terminate regular health benefits if an employee also receives workers’ compensation. That changed in 2002 when a Federal Court ruled in Navarro v. A&A Farming that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the federal act governing health benefit plans, preempted the state law.
According to the court ruling, reduced hours can trigger the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) if an employee starts workers’ compensation leave. This means that the regular health benefit plan of an employee receiving workers’ compensation is not protected unless other exceptions apply.
How Family Leave Acts Affect Benefits
A few specific laws passed in California in recent years can affect whether an employer receiving workers’ compensation benefits is also entitled to retain regular health benefits. Three of those laws include the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), and the pregnancy disability leave (PDL). These leaves’ stop and start dates can affect if and for how long regular benefits remain in place.
The Bottom Line: Workers’ Compensation and Regular Benefits
The combination of workers’ compensation benefits and regular benefit plans differs for everyone in California. To help you through the workers’ compensation process and ensure you fully understand what you are entitled to, find a skilled workers’ compensation attorney to help you.
To schedule a free consultation today, call Eason & Tambornini at (916) 438-1819.
