I have never been on workers comp but now that my mom has been dealing with this for the past 3 months I am actually baffled any of this is legal?
My mom (62F) experienced injury to her neck due to prolonged posture of always needing to look in a downward position at work. She is a medical assistant at a hair transplant office. After 20 years this is her first time opening a case. Her co-workers on the other hand open claims regularly. Her workers comp works with FMLA concurrently meaning after 12 weeks her regular benefits stop (medical, dental, vision). She will still have treatment for the injury related medical needs but her regular health insurance stops. How is this even legal when the reason she is not working is due to her job? What do people do in these situations when they need regular pills for general health issues?
Her case is still open and she cannot afford to pay for health insurance out of pocket. It would be roughly $500/month. She is already only getting 2/3rd of her pay by being on workers comp. She is thinking of going back to work for a month and then telling them it reaggravated the injury which it probably will, to get health insurance for another 3 months. But if her FMLA worked concurrently doesn’t that mean she goes back on workers comp without those benefits intact?
She can barely look down to do anything for more than 30 minutes, this job requires you to look down for most of your shift! CA is at will state, so they can fire her while she is on workers comp because workers comp doesn’t protect individuals from being let go. How is this legal?
Has anyone dealt with this before that have any advice or pointers? I am not sure what to do or how to help her either because I do not know enough about this to advise her. Everything that I see on CA Workers Comp site is confusing with no straightforward answers.