medical treatment after work injury

[redgreen]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ohio
I work for a billion dollar company, having been there almost 10 years now. I was transferred from inside sales to the warehouse (not my choice) in March of 2011. I was a 44 year old man working amongst a bunch of 19-25 year olds. It is a very physical job, with long hours of handling bundles of shingles, boxes of vinyl siding, and plenty of other heavy building materials.

In August of 2011, i hurt my back, informed my supervisor, and was sent to their predesignated doctors office. It was determined in that only visit that i had a back sprain. I was given a prescription for 1 bottle of vicodin, and a full work release. Management and I both thought that was odd, and they made a call to corporate, who found a new provider for our branch. No further examination or anything for me. The majority of the pain did end up going away.

I re-injured my back at work again this summer, and was sent to the company's new provider. Lower and middle back strain. Lots of work restrictions, physical therapy 3 times a week with a doctor re-check every other session. My workplace put me on light duty. Not much to do in my position as light duty, other than sweep the warehouse, and grab smaller items (very few) for customers and deliveries. Work has also cut my hours to 40-the store is open 52 hours a week, and i average 50-55 hours per week this time of year.

Two weeks into light duty and therapy sessions, I develop numbness or tingling from my butt to my toes, to go along with the back pain. The doctor says it is probably a disc issue, and submits paperwork for mri approval. This process of submitting to workmans comp to approval to finally getting mri took 5 weeks. During these 5 weeks, my therapist transferred, and was replaced by a new one. Therapist #1 was more about stretching and exercise equipment. Therapist #2 is more hands on. I had told him that we were awaiting approval for the mri, and it seems to be more of a disc issue. He is all about contorting, pulling, and popping things. I left his 1st session in more pain than i entered. He also re-aggravated the disc pinching the nerve. I informed him about that at the next session, which was gentler, but later sessions were hands on too.

I finally had my mri 3 weeks ago. I went to therapy the next day, and saw therapist #3. Told him about mri. He had me lay face down on the table. He put his foot on my butt, and pulled on my leg until we both heard the "pop". He asked if that hurt. I said "a little, but not as much as i expected, considering the sound". I had a follow up with the doctor right after that, and he had the mri results. Discs 1-5 are all bulging between 2-3mm, and disc 3-4 looks like a crooked thread; and is pressing on nerve root. The doctor started the paperwork to request a specialist, which was approved Tuesday. It looks like surgery is on the horizon. I also told the doctor about what had just happened with therapist #3. That night, the tingling down my leg changed to sharp pains in lower back/hip area, and has stayed ever since. I have another therapy session and doctor visit this Tuesday.

Another slice of this issue is the assistant manager. He is well known for saying all kinds of rude, inappropriate, and very unprofessional comments to both customers and employees. It is amazing that he still has his job. We have butted heads a few times over the years due to this. He is good at trying to pit employees against each other also. During this "Summer of Pain", I have been his main target. After a few weeks of him asking when my next gynocologist appointment is, calling me a pu$$y, and crap like that, it was really bothering me. I started logging the time and date, and whatever idiotic remarks he had made. After a few weeks of this, I figured most would be here-say because of no witnesses. I started voice recording with my phone when I know that we are going to encounter each other. Never caught any tidbits on that...yet. He came out of nowhere and busted my balls in front of a few other employees yesterday...what a time not to be recording. Why am I standing there rubbing my back? How many hours a day do I waste doing that? How long is the company going to have to carry my crippled ass? Why don't I do something for a change, and earn my wage? Quit being a pussy, you don't need surgery. And it just kept going. Now it is bad enough with the constant pain, with nerve flashes of extra pain, but do not question my character and work ethic. He tells customers and employees that I am not hurt that bad, a malingerer, etc. Most co-workers realize that I really am hurt, but he has swayed a few against me. He also said that there is no way that I did all of that damage to myself on this summers incident (so am I really hurt or not, dude), and the company should fight the claim.

In a nutshell, I was hurt at work, made worse with therapy, and being harassed at work...all with constant pain, sleepless nights, and losing out on some juicy overtime. The light duty work is adding to the pain, by walking on concrete all day, sweeping. I am being badgered by management.

Should I tell work on Monday that light duty hurts too much? Should I wait, and tell the doctor on Tuesday that light duty hurts too much? Should I continue to log and try to record comments from management? From what I have read, disability would be about 70% of my wage. I can not afford that pay cut, but being at work makes the pain much worse, not to mention the abuse that I am taking for 40 hours a week? Is 40 hours a week on light duty an Ohio law, or just my company's? Any legal re-course against jack-ass at work, or the therapy crew? I understand that they were doing their job pre-mri, but after week 2 or 3 doc said disc, and therapist #3 was just wrong with his treatment.

I know that this 1 issue covers workmans comp, malpractice, and harassment, but any assistance would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[commentator]

Your state has a worker's comp administration board, (which I believe may be called a State Industrial Commission) you should contact them immediately. What your manager is doing to you is retaliation, harrassment because you have been hurt on the job and are filing worker's comp. Apparently this moron believes that he will be doing a good thing for his company if he harrasses you in to quitting your job. My question is, if this a large company, don't they have an HR department? Have you not been working through them about your light duty issues? Are they not aware of what is going on? Try having a talk with them about what is going on, the problems you are having with your manager. Keep careful records of what is said in such meetings. And since you're in a one party taping state, keep trying to get the abusive manager on tape saying something really nasty to you.

If you retain an attorney, all they will do is file a complaint for you with the worker's comp reg board regarding the hostile work environment that is being created for you.

It seems you have a lot of different issues here. There's no guarantee that if you are on light duty that you are supposed to be allowed to work more than 40 hours. You have no complaint with your employers about that issue. Sure, you miss the money you'd have made in overtime if you were fully healthy and they chose to let you have it, but you're supposedly not even able to do the full load anyhow It's good that you're getting in full 40 hours at all. There's no requirement that the employer has to give overtime to you when you're light duty, even if they give it to some, even if they've given it to you before. Some light duty limits the number of hours you can work.

Full worker's comp benefit if you were off work entirely would be about two thirds of your regular pay. This two thirds figure would be based on a "historical average" of what your pay has been, either for the last six months or the last year. So that previous overtime will boost your worker's comp amount. While you may not feel like you can get by on this, remember, it is for those who cannot (due to their injury) work at all. And if you didn't have that, you'd not have anything. There's no unemployment insurance for those who are unable to work due to health reasons. There's no state disability program required in your state, your company may or may not, probably doesn't have a disability program, and even if they have them, these programs don't apply if you are on worker's comp anyhow. Federal Social Security Disability takes about a year to be approved for, if you started the process right now.

Once you have talked to HR, made sure you have sought relief in that manner for the workplace harrassment issues, you can move toward filing a complaint with the Worker's Comp Board in your state. They usually love to take up causes for you once they become aware of the problems.

Your physical problems, how your back is being treated, is another issue. It is not really the fault of the employer how your physical therapists keep changing or how you are progressing. Most worker's comp processes allow you to have several doctors you can chose from, if you do not like one, you have at least one alternative choice.

If they are referring you to a specialist next week, it is obvious they feel you need more help than just the basics. You should have someone in your company who is handling your claim. HINT: it is likely it is not your manager who is acting so ugly with you. You need to speak this person, and with your doctor or the new doctor again and tell them about how the light duty is exacerbating your pain.

But keep in mind, you've got a choice to make. If you are hurting too bad to work, you're going to have to go on the two thirds of your pay that you'd receive on full WorKer's Comp. You can't have your cake and eat it too, you can't draw the income you make from working full time, even light duty, and at the same time get the relief of not having to stand on the concrete floor and make your back hurt from the light duty work. You certainly can't demand the pay from full duty over time, just because that was what you made in the past and would like to have back.

It may even sound like they took you from your outside sales job into the warehouse as a bit of an effort to make your job a little more uncomfortable to you. Maybe they just don't like you and were trying to get you to quit. But once you filed that Worker's Comp complaint, it became a very bad idea from a legal standpoint for them to allow this supervisor to harrass you. I'd bet you'll be able to find many attorneys willing to take your case and do all the leg work for you.(of course for part of the money you'll get, which may not be a whole lot.)

 

[redgreen]

Thank you for your reply. I actually posted this under 2 other sections here last night; which must have been a no-no, since both threads were removed over night. I have no idea if there were any responses to those.

I have had zero contact with HR. Work restrictions were put in place by the doctor. Light duty tasks have come from the assistant manager. A few times over this period the asst manager has told me "if you are in so much pain, take your pussy ass home". I actually toughed out the 8 hour day every time. If I were to leave, would I get paid for the 8 hours? What if I were to call in and say "the pain is too much for me to come in today"? Would I receive 8 hours pay for that day?

I will contact the workers comp board tomorrow. Thanks for your direction, and I look forward to more replies/assistance

 

[cbg]

I have had zero contact with HR

Why not?

 

[ecmst12]

If your work restrictions are still physically too much for you to handle, see your doctor about getting them changed.

And no, you should NOT start multiple threads about the same situation.

 

[redgreen]

I have had zero contact with HR

Why not?

It is all about the chain of command in my company. Several years ago, 1 employee jumped the chain of command and called HR over something very petty. He still gets ridicule about that to this day.

I was actually so fed up with this guy last week, that my plans were to sit down with branch manager this past Monday. Problem is that he is only around 20 hours a week most weeks, and this past week he was out of town in meetings.

 

[cbg]

Does your chain of command have a specific line of report for w/c claims? That's a serious question; some companies do and some don't.

The reason I ask is that w/c is an HR function, and they can't do their jobs if they don't know what's happening.

 

[redgreen]

I have never had contact with HR before or instructions to contact them during this claim, nor have they ever got a hold of me. From what I have seen in my 10 years is that management deals with HR, other than the time 1 guy called to complain about a plastic bag being popped behind his back, that startled him.

 

[commentator]

This is a truly poor way to run a business, as the manager who is acting and behaving toward you as he is may find out soon. Whatever you do, DO NOT QUIT YOUR JOB in your current situation, no matter what this idiot says to you. Try to get it on tape, or try to write down the things he says and how he behaves. But remember, do not quit. If he comes out and tries to tell you that your light duty is off, or that you've been released from it by the company, or even that YOU've been released by the company, and you are supposed to go home and stop coming to work, do not take only his word for it.

We assume that he's threatening you with firing when you tell him you can't do something, or that you need to rest.

If he tries, as I have actually seen supervisors do, to tell you you're fired (and then tell management you quit) or make you do something that you know is going to damage your back, smile and refuse, saying " I'm sorry I don' t think I'm able to do that." Let him rant and rave and threaten to fire you. Better still, let him fire you, with a big old smile. Once you have a worker's comp claim in place, he's just fried his goose with that for sure.

Whatever you do, don't do as some poor misguided souls I've seen did. Don't say, "Well, my boss told me to, so I had to do it...." and try to do what he ordered you to and put yourself in traction. Nobody is going to bail you out any more than you're already being bailed out by worker's comp, if you have a worker's comp claim you cannot otherwise sue your employer. You do understand that, don't you? Your only recourse with a work related injury is pretty much through the worker's comp system. You'll understand more how it works and they'll make all this a whole lot clearer when you talk directly to the worker's comp. board.

But I'd also give your company HR some chance to work with you. Why don't you ask them those questions about what to do if you're in so much pain you can't work all the hours they've been giving you?

If you do have to have back surgery in the future, you'll be on full worker's comp, off work, even back on light duty for a while. Yes, you'll probably be making less than you would be making if you were perfectly healhty and working all the hours you could. But that's just reality. You will be getting at least that 80% of your pay, and not working at all. That's lots more than unemployment would pay you if you were just laid off.

You really need to deal directly with HR, instead of getting everything passed through this asst. manager. And it certainly wouldn't hurt to voice your problems and issues that you are having with this manager regarding your claim. It sounds as though he really knows NOTHING about worker's comp and his behavior could really be detrimental to the company. cbg is right, they deserve to know what is going on, so they can at least try to work with the situation.

Of course you need to discuss this with worker's comp, too. But You've been taking all your company feedback from this one fellow. So what if you go over his head? He sounds like he's already talking mean to you. Is he going to spank you or yell at you louder? So what if the "guys" on the loading dock talk mean to you and call you nasty names? You're an adult, trying to make a living, and protect your own health, as they are. It is not really the company's job to make sure things go the very best way for you, that's your business to look after.

You have to handle your own affairs in a professional way, not just put up with him and mutter about how bad your back hurts and how you're gonna sue, you are you are while he heaps all this stupid (and illegal)verbal abuse on you. Forget how this other fellow was treated badly way back when and about your desire to be just one of the guys. This is serious, you could end up totally disabled and without a job, and you need to be proactive about it.

 

[redgreen]

I called HR yesterday. I asked a lot of questions that had been building in my mind. I did not mention the comments. I choked.

About 1 hour later, asst manager comes in, and wants to have a serious talk with me. Says "my injury has started a cancer in the branch. Other employees also have aches and pains, and want light duty, like me. They are jealous, and are all under performing now. Drivers don't want to drive because their arms hurt. Roof loaders don't want to load because their back hurts. Warehouse does not want to work because I am not helping an already understaffed area, and now have bad attitudes. New guys are forced to do most of the work, and are making a ton of mistakes. Customers are mad because it takes forever to receive the wrong product, and see 2 or 3 vets standing around"

He basically wants to quarantine me to a few areas out of view of employees and customers. Stated that he did not care if a 4 hour task took me 4 days. We talked about therapy, and how I should let the therapist do what he wants.the possibility of getting cut on, and pay during that period. How long he and I thought this will drag out with recovery. Then...

"Your w/c pay could be delayed up to 6 months, depending on how _____(woman at HR I had just talked to earlier) and I answer the questions"

Got all 20 minutes recorded

 

[ecmst12]

Lawyer up, immediately.

 

[redgreen]

Lawyer up, immediately.

Am I doing this to save my job?

 

[ecmst12]

No, you're doing this because your employer clearly needs to be taught a lesson in legality when someone files a workers comp claim, because they just did EVERYTHING that they're not supposed to.

 

[betachains]

Am I doing this to save my job?

In the longer term? Probably not, since you will hopefully move on. Not now, because you should absolutely not quit, as mentioned by someone else already

But, your current employer is not playing by the rules. Be very, very careful about your future communications with your co-workers, managers, and HR from now on. Get yourself an employment lawyer. Like right now.

 

[redgreen]

Advised today by attorney to ride it out and see where it goes; also to keep recording. If they cut my hours, or fire me it is on.