Worker's Compensation Benefits

6374395

When an employee is hurt on the job and is required to be off work is the employer responsible for paying his full wages?  Can we make him wait until his benefits kick in from the industrial commission or must we pay him and seek reimbursement from the employee once payments are received from the industrial/worker comp fund?

TXHRGuy

What state?

IT HR

Depends on what state you are in.   There are some states that have a 3 day or 7 day waiting period in which the person is not entitled to compensation until after the waiting period.  What does your policy say?  If you don't have a policy and your state law says there is a 3 day waiting period then you do not have to pay the employee until the 4th day they are out (although some states have laws that say if the person is going to be out for a long period of time that they will go back to the first day the person is out and pay them whatever the percent of their salary is that they are entitled to base on that state law.)  States have put this waiting period in to try to minimize the number of people being out for just a couple of days and "milking" the system. 

What state are you in?  Maybe someone here is familiar with the WC laws in that state.

tcfd21

I am located in Arizona.  Our understanding is that there is a 7 day wait period before benefits start. The employee has not available sick leave to use.  I am unable to get a clear answer from the state industrial if the company is responsible for his wages in that 7 days.  We have the FMLA policy in effect but unsure if we can use it on an industrial claim.

tcfd21

by the way 6374395 has been changed to tcfd21.

TXHRGuy

http://www.ica.state.az.us/contact/index.html

I bet they can answer that question very quickly.  I didn't see anything on the face of it that says "CLICK HERE FOR STATE LAWS AND REGULATIONS", so they must want to get called a lot.