Washington - Hurt on the job + decrease in pay

[chipster]

My fiancée was recently helping a resident where she works (rehabilitation for retired folks) but while in the process she hurt herself. Her employer refused to let her fill out an incident report. After a day of rest and ibuprofen, she was in worse pain. So she insisted she fill out an incident report...over much debate and gripping they allowed her so. She ended up having to go to the ER because her doctor was unavailable. We ended up finding out she has a severe sprained shoulder and a small tear in the muscle. The doctor in the ER placed her on 'light duty' until she can get a follow-up with her real doctor. Upon turning in those papers from the ER to her work, her employer then changed an already set schedule. Instead of working 6am - 2pm, she is working 6am - 10am and then 4pm - 8pm. Unfortunately for us we had a big set of plans for Sunday in which I paid a lot of money for, only on the condition that she was already scheduled for her normal shift. We informed her employer of our already set financial obligation and see if there was something we could work with and all they said was 'Oh well'. Later the employer told my fiancée that if she was on light duty for more then 3 days, they would reduce her pay. And due to availability with her doctor, it will be about 14 days before my fiancée can get an appointment. It is now the second day back at work. Does the company have a right to do any of this, seeing that my fiancée was injured on the job while performing her daily functions following procedure?

[ElleMD]

Yes they can change her schedule. No they do not have to alter her schedule to accommodate your plans. She may want to put in for vacation or personal leave if she has it. Yes they can reduce her pay while she is on light duty. If they reduce it below two thirds of what she is making now she may be eligible for Temporary Partial Disability benefits.

[chipster]

This is all within the rights of the employeer, even tho this happened on the job. Is there any time period they need to let you know for schedule changes? They informed her only 24hrs before her scheduled shift.

[robb71]

The law does not specifically address the issue of schedule changes.

24 hour notice is more than some employers provide to workers. She could receive a phone call right now from her boss telling her to come to work and that would be legal.

[chipster]

ok wel i just wanted to make sure that all was well, as the management of the place is a little kooky in their policies and such

[ElleMD]

It is also not at all unusual for "light duty" to only be available at certain times or on certain shifts.

[chipster]

Ok...well thank you for hte responses. The whole thing that seemed off to me was that my fiancee was singled out. theres about 4 other people on 'light duty' who have normal shifts and my finacee is the only one with suh a splitshift. Thank you again.

[ElleMD]

Unless she was singled out because of a legally protected characteristic, it isn't illegal. If several others are already on light duty it is likely an availability issue. She needs to ask her supervisor why the hours were changed as that is the only person who knows the answer.

[chipster]

Well it gets a little better, and it's really confusing me. They informed her this morning that if her doctor places her back on light duty next week for any amount of time, that they will fire her. IN the employee contract she signed it clauims they can "let her go" after being on light duty for more than 2 months. And they reduced her pay as they claimed to 2/3 of her wages which brings her down to $6/hr

[ElleMD]

There is no requirement at all legally to offer light duty. It is up to the employer to do so, and if they opt to, they may limit the amount of time that it is available. Does she have an actuaql employment contract? It would be highly unusual for a contract to specify how long an employee may be on light duty in the event of an injury. They can reduce her pay unless she does have a contract that says they can not.

If she has a contract then she will need to take it to a lawyer to review. No one here can weight in on the terms of a contract we haven't read and didn't know existed.