leaving job after accident

[Adalaide78]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? UT

I just have a question about worker's comp. I was injured at work, I slipped and fell landing on my knee due to food being on the floor and not cleaned up. Everything has been going more or less well and being taken care of, Dr. visits, medication and PT. I'll be seeing an orthopedic surgeon soon and may need an MRI and surgery. (I am so not looking forward to that possibility.) I do have a work restriction right now which is simply that for every 2 hours I spend on my feet I must spend 20 minutes sitting.

So my question is, (and I think the info I found says yes) can I leave my job to seek other employment and still have everything covered? Since the accident I've had my hours cut back to 8 per week, and starting next week I'm scheduled for 4 hours. (Of course, I'll miss 20 minutes every two hours of that time due to clocking out for my time sitting.) I understand that I can do nothing, not even in my personal life that violates the work restriction without jeapordizing my claim which is why I've been looking for a desk job. I just can not live off this much money and frankly I pay CS and my ex desperately needs the money I send to care for my kids.

[cbg]

Any medical bills will still be covered, even if you find other employment.

[NLW]

If you are missing work due to your injury, you should be receiving supplemental benefits (temporary partial disability or TPD) from the insurance company. Are you getting these benefits?

[Adalaide78]

I am not recieving any benefits other than having my medical expenses met. Every two hours I miss 20ish minutes of work, which can definately be attributed to the injury. On the other hand I'm simply being scheduled less, my manager hasn't bothered to say why. I can only make guesses and assumptions that it's because of my work restriction.

I should point out that the position is part time and I have never been promised any certain amount of hours although the norm is for me to work 4 days a week with at least 3 of those a closing shift which means more hours.

[Pure]

Talk to your management and see if they can do anything to accommodate your needs. You can also get a second job without living this one. Just keep this one as a part time.
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<a href="http://www.attorneyshawaii.com">Honolulu Hawaii Attorneys</a>

[Adalaide78]

Thank you so much for educating me on TPD. It seems that my employer has pretty much shot themselves in the foot here. My contact at workers comp is requesting ALL of my wage records going back to when I started this job to determine if TPD is needed. Since I used to work 3-4 closing shifts a week and am now down to 1-2 short shifts a week I'm guessing that it will be. There is little my employer can say to indicate that the shortage of hours is not related to my injury since it started the week after I fell.