Legal Question in Workers Comp in Indiana
I am out on workers compensation in Indiana (injured in Indiana at work as well). I injured my shoulder and have to go to physical therapy and am not allowed to return to work until I am 100%, which will be another 6-8 weeks. I recently went out of town and let my case worker and adjuster know, in case they needed to contact me. They said that was fine and thanked me for letting them know. Since I only have therapy Mondays and Wednesdays, I left from Thursday to Sunday. I returned and made all of my therapy appointments. A few weeks later when I hadn't received my payment, I called and my adjuster told me that I "don't get paid when on vacation". I don't understand how this is right when I made all my appointments, let them know in advance and stayed within my doctor's instructions. Is this right??? Any help you can give me would be extremely helpful-- I don't know if I could afford a lawyer.
1 Answer from Attorneys
It is true that you are not entitled to Workers' Compensation benefits if you arrange to take a formal paid vacation while you are convalescing. Nobody does that. You should have hired an attorney. How could you not afford to hire an attorney when an attorney doesn't cost you anything, upfront?
I always like to say that the only guarantee in life is (no, not death and taxes) if you don't ask, you won't get. You never bothered to ask how much an attorney would charge you. If you had asked, they would have told you that they could not charge you anything, upfront, that they would make certain that you received everything to which you are entitled, and that they were entitled to only a small fee when your case is over.