Broken Shoulder

[moburkes]

Hi, guys. My mom fell at work and broke her shoulder. OUCH! Can you qualify for both worker's comp AND short term disability? Will the short term disabilty company be reimbursed with the worker's comp payout? IS there a payout for WC, or will they just pay her medical bills? I am absolutely stumped. Thanks!

She's in South Carolina.

 

[weenor]

Hi, guys. My mom fell at work and broke her shoulder. OUCH! Can you qualify for both worker's comp AND short term disability? Will the short term disabilty company be reimbursed with the worker's comp payout? IS there a payout for WC, or will they just pay her medical bills? I am absolutely stumped. Thanks!

She's in South Carolina.

Depends on what the short term disability policy says. Most short term disability policies specifically exclude work related injuries and if Mom indicates in the application that it is not work related, the application would be used against her to deny w/c. If the policy allows payment for work related injuries, there is probably something in the policy indicating that it has to be paid back from w/c proceeds.

As a general rule apply for w/c and then if allowable under the short term disability policy, apply for that. Just read the policy carefully. Remember to that some payments under those policies may be subject to income tax and w/c is not.

 

[moburkes]

Thanks, weenor. Her doctor told her that she qualifies for both, but I didn't think he was correct. I figured that WC would deduct the STD proceeds from the WC claim, but then I was second-guessing myself.

 

[Betty]

I don't know about SC but in many states you can apply for short term disability payments & WC. However, if the employer pays the premium for the STD pol., the WC benefit will be reduced by the amt. of the disability income payment. If employee pays the prem. for the disability ins., WC payment will not be reduced. You might want to check as to how SC handles this. I hope your Mom is doing ok.

 

[moburkes]

Thanks, Betty.

 

[moburkes]

Oh, well. She doesn't have STD. It was taken out of 3 pay checks, but for some reason, her employer stopped taking out it. She noticed when I asked her to look at her check.

 

[cbg]

Did she elect STD coverage at her last open enrollment?

 

[moburkes]

Apparently, she only became eligible for benefits this past May. The deductions had started because she did elect the coverage, and then they stopped.

 

[weenor]

I don't know about SC but in many states you can apply for short term disability payments & WC. However, if the employer pays the premium for the STD pol., the WC benefit will be reduced by the amt. of the disability income payment. If employee pays the prem. for the disability ins., WC payment will not be reduced. You might want to check as to how SC handles this. I hope your Mom is doing ok.

For those that are reading this thread for information. Betty whether the employer vs. employee paid for short disability has relevance to taxes and w/c credit for payments made. However, the potential for having to reimburse the short term co. depends on the policy.

 

[moburkes]

For those that are reading this thread for information. Betty whether the employer vs. employee paid for short disability has relevance to taxes and w/c credit for payments made. However, the potential for having to reimburse the short term co. depends on the policy.

Thanks for the added info.

 

[cbg]

What concerns me is why they stopped taking deductions. If she elected the coverage and they began taking deductions, why didn't they continue?

It likely won't change anything as this sounds like a workers comp case, in which case it is highly unlikely that STD would apply. But this doesn't sound right to me.

 

[moburkes]

She's not sure why it stopped. And the deduction amount is so low, that she didn't realize that it stopped. She said that when she called (HR, I guess), they only said that they don't show a record of her signing up for it, but they didn't put her on hold to view a file, or anything. I explained to her that there may have been an error in inputting the info into the computer. I was just hoping that she would have a few bucks to pay bills while she's out of work, even if WC eventually got it back later. I remember when she signed up for benefits, and I tried to walk her though it over the phone. This is her first job in at least 35 years. I told her to check every single box.

I hate to tell her to get an attorney. I've never gotten one, and I've been hit 4 times (car accidents). But she will be cluless filling out forms and stuff. What do you think?

 

[cbg]

I don't suppose by any chance she kept photocopies of her enrollment forms?

 

[moburkes]

No, but I'm going to get on a conference call w/ her and her work on my break. My HR rep here told me that it was okay. I will ask them to fax over her forms, just to be sure. I'll update later today. Thanks!