Injured on the job. No pay
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Injured on the job. No pay
I was injured on the job and the doc put me on light duty. My company doesn’t offer sick time. I was told they don’t have light duty work and therefore no work for me. So not only did I hurt myself working for them but I don’t even get paid. Workers’ Comp doesn’t apply because I should be back to work before the 14 days. I can’t afford to loss time from and am regretting telling them. I should have worked through the pain. Do I have options here? My employer has no responsibility to pay me or offer me some form of lite duty for a work related injury?
Asked on August 28, 2017 under Employment Labor Law, Pennsylvania
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
1) There is no right to light duty. Employees have to be able to do their jobs, though they can get a "reasonable accommodation" if disabled to help them do. A reasonable accommodation is a change in procedure or rules, or the provision of some assistive device, which is not too expensive or disruptive for the employer--*and* which lets the employee do all the core or important functions of his or her job. Letting the employee skip important parts of his/her job, or giving him/her a different job--i.e. putting someone on "light duty" if their job does not support it--is not required. You can't get light duty if the nature of your job is such that you can't do it on light duty.
2) Your employer would potentially be liable IF they were provably at fault in some way in causing the injury. But liability is based on fault; if the employer were not at fault, they would not have to pay any compensation. On the other hand, if you believe they were at fault, speak to a personal injury attorney about possibly suing your employer for your injuries, IF doing so is worthwhile (depends on your medical bills, extent of lost wages, and whether you will suffer any lasting harm or impairment).
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