Pls. help! My employer wants me back but I'm not ready yet

[angleye]

Thank you all for your informative & encouraging replies. I called the corporate office and told them that I'll go back to work at the day and time they have scheduled me. I'll give it my best shot, and who knows, it might work out with the restrictions. If not, I'll take it from there. Again, thank you all.

[backache]

I went back when they said I had to. Being a nurse there was no way I could do my job. They then told me to go back and do desk work. I still couldn't do it plus they expected me to do much more. I had a mylogram done and that is when they found the pinched nerve on top of everything else. They do cut your pay down when you go back even part time. By working and receiving WC I was actually losing $125.00 a week. I finally went to court and got the 66% of my pay back after months of being paid way under what I was suppose to receive.

[Lilly]

Let us know how your work day unfolds. I hope you are able to do more than you thought possible. Good luck , and keep us posted how it goes.
Prayers going up for you, Lilly

[angleye]

Lilly Wrote:Let us know how your work day unfolds. I hope you are able to do more than you thought possible. Good luck , and keep us posted how it goes.
Prayers going up for you, Lilly

I surely will let you know, Lilly. Thank you very much for your prayers. I firmly believe in the power of payers 'cause at the end of the day it has to be GOD's will. I am glad I found this forum site; it's like my second family. The posts are really encouraging and refreshing

[sparkey]

When i was sent back to work still in my hand brace, i was protecting my dominant hand so much that i tensed up and i got frozen shoulder. I did this for 2 months straight till the doctor finally pulled me out of work for overuse syndrome. Do NOT overdo yourself as sometimes you can cause more damage. It has been over a year now and i am still having exactly the same problems and went through therapy for 7 months, 4x's a week. Just be very careful and stay within your restrictions. It is very hard when people physically see you there and you do not have a cast or blood dripping,they think you can still do the work you did before.

[angleye]

Hello everyone:

I went back to work but lasted only two days. On my 1st day back I felt OK for a few hours with tolerable sharp pain & stiffness, but after lunch the fatigue and stiffening on my lower back was so bad I had to go home. On the 2nd day I was able to handle 4 1/2 hours only. I talked to this lady at the corporate office and there was an apparent displeasure in her voice. She insisted that I should be able to do my job for the full 8 hours within the restriction given by the insurance company's doctor, which is no heavy lifting. I explained to her that the restriction is contrary to the MRI & EMG results and the symptoms I have. Also, I found the restriction ironic as I almost never do any heavy lifting at work. I asked her why I was not allowed to continue with the PT prescribed by my treating physician. She said the only doctor's report she has is the one sent by the insurance company. She added that if I believe continuing with PT will benefit me she can extend it but I have to get a new prescription from my doctor. However, she cautioned me that it would be tried for another month only by which time if I don't get close to doing my job with minimal restriction my employment with the company might be in jeopardy. I went back to my doctor and was able to get the physical therapy authorization but he seemed to be reluctant to do it. He actually asked me why I still have the constant fatigue and stiffness after months of PT. I was surprised by his change of attitude and I have the feeling that he might have been swayed by the insurance company.

One thing I didn't mention in my original post is that when I got discharged from ER following the day of my injury, the doctor asked me for the contact info of my primary doctor. I told him that I didn't have any because I had never been sick and I never needed a family doc. He gave me a list of physicians in my area and I picked the doctor who had been treating me since because "Sports medicine doctor" was attached to his name. So I have only known him for about four months.

The question I have is: Can I switch doctors at this point? Also, I don't know what my employer's action will be after the current PT is over if I won't be able to do my job within the restrictions of the insurance company's doctor. Can they legally terminate my employment? By the way, I am in WA state.

Thanks in advance for any response I might get.

Al

[angleye]

Any thoughts on the two questions I posed in my last post?

Thanks.

[katicabogar]

Hi, Angleye,

I am also in WA state and dealing with w/c for 3 1/2 years now.
Regarding your question if you can change doctor now...yes, you can, but w/c has to approve.
I advise you strongly to get in touch with a w/c attorney right now...usually there is no charge for the first consultation and their fee is 10-15% of your time loss check and 30% is from settlement. If no win, no charge.

I went without attorney for two years and I am sorry now. I had several surgeries, kept going back to work, but my employer kept pushing me to do more and more, so finally I couldn't do my job. They fired me after my fmla leave was over(four monthts) instead of trying to find me a position within my restriction. And it was all legal. Be careful, they can find any reason to fire you...they tried to push me out by using several tricks. They want you to quit, this way they don't have to pay you anything.

Just a last thought...the doctor who will treat you is the most important piece in this w/c puzzle. If you need to find a good one, lawyers usually can recommend a good one.

Good luck.

Kate

[angleye]

katicabogar Wrote:Hi, Angleye,

I am also in WA state and dealing with w/c for 3 1/2 years now.
Regarding your question if you can change doctor now...yes, you can, but w/c has to approve.
I advise you strongly to get in touch with a w/c attorney right now...usually there is no charge for the first consultation and their fee is 10-15% of your time loss check and 30% is from settlement. If no win, no charge.

I went without attorney for two years and I am sorry now. I had several surgeries, kept going back to work, but my employer kept pushing me to do more and more, so finally I couldn't do my job. They fired me after my fmla leave was over(four monthts) instead of trying to find me a position within my restriction. And it was all legal. Be careful, they can find any reason to fire you...they tried to push me out by using several tricks. They want you to quit, this way they don't have to pay you anything.

Just a last thought...the doctor who will treat you is the most important piece in this w/c puzzle. If you need to find a good one, lawyers usually can recommend a good one.

Good luck.

Kate

Thank you very much for your reply, Kate.

I think you're right, maybe my employer's intention is to just wait for my FMLA leave to expire and fire me after that. If my FMLA leave expires and they terminate my employment, will I have any legal recourse? Do you think I should hire an attorney now even if I'm still getting W/C checks every two weeks and I'll be attending PT for the next 30 days? The dilemma I have is what if I'm wrong about my employer's intention and they find out I've hired an attorney--that would put me in an awkward position.

Do you have any suggestion on finding a good W/C attorney? I don't trust the ones that advertise on TV, on-line, yellow pages, etc. It would never hurt to have a good attorney's contact info handy.

Once again thanks a lot,
Al

[AQA]

I am sure she will post one tomorrow Take Cae