In this video, we will address whether or not you receive full pay if you have a workers’ compensation injury. My name is Matt Eason. I have practiced employment and workers’ compensation rights here in Sacramento for over 25 years. When clients come to our office suffering from an injury, one of the first things they understandably want to know is whether they will receive full pay if injured on the job.
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While we will break that question into a few different components, the short answer is no, but it may be okay. The first issue concerns full pay based on your period of temporary disability. The second question concerns your period of full pay on permanent disability.
During the temporary disability stage, when you’ve been injured, you cannot return to your complete duties, or your employer does not have “light duty” or modified duties based on your limitations. You may have the right to temporary disability payments. There can, however, be a gap in when temporary disability payments start, when they end, and how much they are.
Traditionally, temporary disability payments start when you have been off work for more than three full days, you were hospitalized, or if your combined time off of work was more than 14 days, it was retroactive to your first day off work. Consequently, if your injury lasts only a few days, you usually have to use sick leave, paid time off, or not receive any pay.
Likewise, temporary disability ends after you’ve received 104 cumulative weeks of temporary disability. So, in other words, after they piece together two full years of time off, on or off or consecutive, your temporary disability ends in California for most cases. In addition to potential gaps of when temporary disability begins and limits on when it ends, there is also a dollar limit for temporary disability.
Temporary disability payments are historically calculated at two-thirds of your average weekly earnings. So, if you’ve been working overtime regularly, please consider that. While you typically receive two-thirds of your average weekly earnings, not the full pay, the good news is that workers’ compensation benefits are generally not taxable. As such, the gap could be more dramatic.
Suppose you are off work because of a workers’ compensation claim and have concerns about whether you have been receiving proper pay or the proper disability. In that case, I hope you will consider contacting our workers’ compensation firm. My name again is Matt Eason, and I am with the law office of Eason & Tambornini.
