I'm in a dilema, I don't overstep my boundaries or tread waters I am unfamilar in but I don't want to just sit back and not say anything at all.... HELP! Here's the deal, I'm a non-exempt California full time employee.

Last month I was injured by company owned furniture which caused me to be out of work for 2 days. My manager advised Human Resources that she was not going to use my accrued sick or vacation time to cover the 2 days I was out of work due to the injury. In response, our Human Resource Representative advised my manager to mark the 2 days as "Unpaid" since Workman's Comp. would take care of the days out due to the injury.

This past Friday, I rec'd my pay check which was short 2 days pay which hit my pocket book hard. To add insult to injury, when I arrived home that evening I rec'd a check from Workman's Comp. entitled "First & Final Payment." First off the amount of the payment was about the amount I make in 3 hrs, second I was only compensated for 1 day! The day I was paid was 3 days after the date of injury. One small detail our well informed H/R department forgot to tell me was in order to be paid for the time off I need to be out 3 consecutive days before the benefits kicked in.

I have 2 days of loss wages due to an injury on company property caused by furniture owned by the company. I feel I got a bum wrap, all I want is to be compensated for the loss wages, nothing else, no extra trauma money, no lawyers, not even asking for special parking. Just give me my money!

Any suggestions on how to handle this situation? Do I not say anything at all just in order to not cause any waves? I do feel they should compensate for the unpaid days.

Thanks for your assistance!

While I can appreciate your situation, this is common practice under worker's comp claims. I hope this analogy helps explain things better. When you are injured at work and a worker's comp claim is made, this is the point at which you are an employee under the insurance policy. This means the day following the accident you are "off payroll" of your company on "on payroll" of the insurance provider. Each state has different waiting periods. For the states my company does business in, the waiting period may last a week or better. The fact that you have to only be out 3 days in order to collect is a huge benefit in itself. My point here is that if you are seeking additional compensation for the days not covered from worker's comp from your employer, you may be out of luck. I'm sorry to say that's just how things work with respect to worker's comp. It sounds to me that your employer was following the protocol they should have.

Unfortunetly this is very common in W/C claims.

Not only is it common but it is the law. Your WC carrier could not pay you for those first 3 days. I'm not sure what you were paid for since you were only out 2. I'm betting on a clerical error that believed you were out from the date of the accident and not 2 days a few days later. As such, yes, you are goingto owe the money back. Your call whether you do so up front or wait until they ask. To keep the money is insurance fraud though and yes, it does have some significant penalties.

Just so you know in the future, WC only pays about 2/3 of your average weekly wage. The money is tax free but it is not the same as your full paycheck. Your employer is not required to allow you to use vacationor sick leave for the days WC does not pay and many do make you wait as if you are out for a lengthy period of time, those first 3 days may be paid by WC retroactively. Restoring leave and taking back pay can be a hassle so many employers opt to wait or disallow PTO to be used.

Thank you all for your input... I actually do understand and now that I know a bit, I can move on.

oh, and sorry for the duplicate posting, I didn't think the first post was accepted. Ooops!

:-)