Legal Question in Workers Comp in South Dakota

Re: Carpal tunnel

It would be wrong of your employer to fire you because you cannot work due to medical restrictions from your doctor following surgery for a compensable workers' compensation injury. The appearance of student teaching while on temporary disability is likely to rub the employer and its workers' compensation insurer wrong, however, and they may work to push you to return to work sooner. Partly the issue will be your receipt of temporary total disability benefits during the time that you are student teaching. What you propose is not improper but it is unusual. It would be best if you talked with the employer and the insurer about this in advance and get an agreement from them. If the student teaching is important to you, you may want to consider a compromise on temporary disability benefits, in whole or in part, to get them to go along with your plan.