How a Job Offer Can Affect Your Workers’ Compensation Benefits

A workplace accident can turn your life upside down. It can leave you with significant physical pain and limitations, the burden of enormous medical debt, the need for rehabilitative care, and a lack of resources due to lost wages. All of this can wreak havoc on your mental health, too, as you struggle to find a path forward to recovery.

The good news is that you might qualify for workers’ compensation benefits, but successfully obtaining them isn’t the end of matter. This is because your employer and its insurance provider will probably want to get you back to work as quickly as possible so that they can save money. Therefore, they will keep a close eye on your medical condition and constantly reassess whether you are capable of working.

As a result, if your employer or its insurance company thinks that you’re capable of returning to work, even with certain medical limitations, then you might be offered employment. At that point you can either take the job, which will probably stop your workers’ compensation benefits, or deny the offer. If you deny the offer, then your employer or its insurance company is likely going to file a claim with a workers’ compensation judge that seeks to reduce or totally halt your benefits.

At that point you and your employer will present evidence to the court demonstrating why your condition renders you unable to work or why you should be considered capable of working. As such, the primary focus of these hearings is on your medical condition and any corresponding health records, but you might need to be prepared with testimony from medical experts, too.

These cases are tough, and there’s a lot at stake. Therefore, you really shouldn’t just leave it to chance. Instead, you should do your best to protect your interests and your workers’ compensation benefits. In many cases, this drives injured workers to reach out for legal assistance.