[lm10529]

Today is a bad day and trying not to pull my hair out. After 2 shoulder surgeries, 14 months of being on wc and 4 weeks of work hardening I was released for full duty with no restrictions by my dr on June 1 and to date I am still not back to work and have received no income since June 1. My life has been a daily nightmare since that time. I was informed by my attorney that a couple of things needed to be done in order to return to work and one of them was my employer required me to do a lifting test at there facility. My employer would never return my phone calls to schedule it finally it was scheduled for June 30. A month later I still hadn't been contacted regarding the results of the test. Finally after a week of my attorney contacting them, they told my attorney that I had not passed their lift test. With the discrepancy between work saying I wasnt fit to return and my Dr saying I was, my Dr ordered an FCE. When my employer heard about the FCE, an offer was made that they would let me go through 5 additional weeks of work hardening only at there facility, be put back on wc but to accept this I was not to do the FCE which I had scheduled for the next day. Due to the FCE being scheduled for the very next after the offer was made, I chose to follow my dr's recommendations and go through the FCE. The results of the FCE indicated that all I needed to do was go to back. No further physical therapy or work hardening was required since some of the tests I had even maxxed out the top weights. This occurred 4 weeks ago and since then I have not heard from attorney, wc or my employer.
I have tried to apply for unemployment to get some relief but was told for me to receive anything I would have had to apply by July 1.
Sorry for the length of this post, but today I have just had enough. At this point, I do not even know if I am still employed or if I have been fired. Has anyone been through anything similar to this? Is it time to consider a possible change in attorneys? What happens when there is a difference between what the employer says and what the actual tests prove?
I would appreciate any thoughts that you guys might have and thanks for letting me do a little venting.

[1171]

before any specific information can be given, the state regulations that control your claim needs to be known.
http://www.workerscompensation.com/forum...?tid=10146

you can put your state in your profile so it's known whenever you post.

--otherwise only general advice is available.
it also might help to know if your employer is self-insured or there is a comp carrier & insurance policy for coverage.

[lm10529]

I live in Illinois and my employer does have a comp carrier for insurance.

Would I be out of line to contact the work comp insurance adjuster for information or should I continue to try and work through my attorney even though he hasnt returned my calls or contacted me in a month.

Thanks.

[LeglEgl]

(09-13-2011, 03:24 PM)lm10529 Wrote: Would I be out of line to contact the work comp insurance adjuster for information or should I continue to try and work through my attorney .....

The WC carrier won't discuss anything with you once you've retained counsel.

I might suggest that you call your attorney's office and schedule a short meeting with him/her. When you do, if the appointment is set, make a list of questions you want to ask, and make the visit brief. Most attorneys handle 100's of cases, and are spread pretty thin.

[1171]

unfortunately the employer is not required to save a job for you or create a new one.
workers comp does not guarantee a return to your same employer or job.

if you have some permanent impairment, even if you can return to the same occupation, you will be entitled to additional disability payments.
the amount and manner of payment has to be negotiated or awarded by the comp court.

yes, if you cannot get into contact and communication with your atty, it's time to contact others. if your atty uses email you might have better luck.

[lizdawiz82]

Sorry to hear about you situation, I hate the workers comp system ,it does not help us injured workers we lose everything in the end.

[lizdawiz82]

Sorry to hear about you situation, I hate the workers comp system ,it does not help us injured workers we lose everything in the end.

[Saving Grace]

Sorry lm10529. I wonder if there's anybody there who went through the workers compensation system and didn't get into the financial hardship and those endless nightmares. This was happening, still happening and nothing changes about that, unfortunately.