{"id":414,"date":"2015-07-15T13:00:47","date_gmt":"2015-07-15T13:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mtmic.com\/blog\/?p=414"},"modified":"2015-07-15T13:00:47","modified_gmt":"2015-07-15T13:00:47","slug":"employee-responsibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/employee-responsibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Employee Responsibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Donna Motley, Vice President of Claims<\/em><\/p>\n

Workers\u2019 Compensation insurance coverage is mandated in the State of Michigan. Even so, Workers\u2019 Compensation is a \u201cbenefit\u201d to the employee (and the employer). Employees are \u201centitled\u201d to medical care and compensation should they have an injury while in the course of employment. But that does not allow the injured worker to have an \u201centitlement attitude\u201d. Workers\u2019 Compensation is not a \u201csocial program\u201d. Benefits are governed by laws that were enacted over 100 years ago. Those laws have been periodically modified to change with the times. When you talk about laws, you are talking about attorneys \u2013 hence the modifications! Our success in the Workers\u2019 Compensation courts is strongly influenced by the current political arena in our State at that time.<\/p>\n

Employers know the part they play in the process: safety programs, safety training, drug screening, employment physicals, prompt reporting of injuries, accident investigations (and preventions).<\/p>\n

\"responsibility01\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Workers\u2019 Compensation carrier\/professionals know the part they play in the process: investigating facts surrounding reported injuries, providing prompt and appropriate medical care, providing wage loss benefits when appropriate \u2013 all with a common goal of a successful physical recovery and return to productive employment. Again, what the Workers\u2019 Compensation carrier provides is governed by law.<\/p>\n

But what about the injured worker? What is their role in the process? What are their responsibilities? Well, their role certainly is not to play the part of victim! While some injured workers may simply be in the wrong place at the wrong time when an injury occurs, more often than not, the injured worker played a part in their own injury. Were they taking a short cut, not following proper procedures, utilizing proper safety precautions? Did they come to work tired, stressed out, pre-occupied or hung over from the night before?<\/p>\n

\"responsibility02\"<\/a>Once an injury has occurred, did the employee report it promptly and to the appropriate personnel? Once medical treatment was administered, did they follow the doctor\u2019s instructions? Take their medication as prescribed? Or were they seeking medical treatment on their own? Are they attending all of the scheduled medical appointments? Are they giving maximum effort in physical therapy? Doing their home exercises?<\/p>\n

It is the injured worker\u2019s responsibility to keep their employer informed of their work status and provide the employer with a disability slip after every doctor visit. If restrictions are imposed, the injured worker should ask<\/strong> the employer if there is work they can do within those restrictions. (Restricted or light duty work does not have to be at the same rate of pay or on the same shift. However, if at a different rate of pay, Workers\u2019 Compensation would have to pay a differential.)<\/p>\n

Did the injured worker provide the medical provider with the Workers\u2019 Compensation carrier contact information? Or did they give the provider their Health Insurance information? Is the injured worker receiving medical bills or statements related to the injury? If so, are they bringing them to the employer to turn in to the Workers\u2019 Compensation carrier? Before they go to a \u201ccollection agency\u201d!<\/p>\n

Just about every injured worker we talk to says<\/strong> they \u201ccan\u2019t wait to get back to work\u201d. However, their actions don\u2019t always indicate the same. Do they have a positive attitude or are they focusing on the negative? I\u2019ve had claimants say \u201cJust fix me<\/strong>\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m not 100%<\/strong>\u201d \u2013 well, whether you feel medicine is a science, an art form or just plain voodoo \u2013 doctors are trying to mend a broken body \u2013 not repair a machine. And in this world of entitlement in which we live, there are people who feel they are \u201cowed\u201d something or \u201centitled\u201d to more because\u00a0…\u00a0? Then we have litigation!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Donna Motley, Vice President of Claims Workers\u2019 Compensation insurance coverage is mandated in the State of Michigan. Even so, Workers\u2019 Compensation is a \u201cbenefit\u201d to the employee (and the employer). Employees are \u201centitled\u201d to medical care and compensation should they have an injury while in the course of employment. But that does not allow…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-claims","category-compliance","category-loss-control"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}