Legal Question in Workers Comp in California
I am on an unpaid medical leave and have an open CA workers comp claim. I've just read my employer's Family and Medical Leave policy and it appears to far more generous than the CFRA is during mass layoff. If the employer's policy says that employees on unpaid medical or pregnancy leave must be reinstated to the same or similar position when you return from leave and only withholds job protection from employees taking paid family or personal leave, can they still disregard their leave policy and lay me off during a mass layoff in accordance with the CFRA?
2 Answers from Attorneys
I can not answer your direct question, but I see a problem you might not have realized. If you have filed a WC claim alleging you have been off-work during the period you have received unpaid medical leave and you win the WC matter, will they then find you were not on unpiad leave [do they treat WC benefits as wage payments even though different rate, source of funds, etc] so do not qualify under your employer's plan? You should re-post the question to get someone to answer the CFRA portion.
You may be qualified for a temporary disability benefits under worker's compensation laws. You need to be examined by a worker's compensation treating doctor and if that doctor believes that you can't perform your customary work, you can be taken off work and then apply for temporary disability benefits. Feel free to call us at 213.388.7070 for a free consultation.