Missed work not covered by WC - how do you handle it?

Do you require employees to use their PTO or take time unpaid for anything a Worker's Comp policy doesn't cover for lost wages?

Example: WC doesn't cover lost wages for anything less than 7 days and the employee is out for 3 days for a work-related injury.

Do you require they use PTO or take the time unpaid, or do you pay them the 3 days wages?

What if the employee is out for 3 weeks (15 working days) due to a work-related injury? WC pays the employee for 8 days, do you require PTO or unpaid time for the other 7, or do you pay the normal wages?

Thanks for your feedback. Really looking forward to seeing how other companies handle this.

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  • Deaubry, 

    I worked in the Healthcare industry and handled a lot of WC cases. I think it depends on the company policy. For my organization, our policy stated that the company will pay for the lost wages up to 7 days (for scheduled shifts) and then the workers' comp pay kicks in. I had to create a pay code in ADP for this type of wage so that I could track it in reports. 

    WC pays  66 2/3 of the average weekly wages. The employees can supplement the rest of the pay with their PTO if they choose to do so. 

    So, in your example, if the employee has enough PTO to use, she can use it or she can have the unpaid time off.  

    In your example's second scenario, you cannot pay normal wages to the employee because the employee did not work for those 8 days. It can be either unpaid or PTO or if your company pays to the employee like mine did. 

    Hope this is helpful. 

    Thanks!

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    • Vrushali Deshpande  Thank you for your input. This does help a lot.

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