I work at a large company in a warehouse-esque environment in Kentucky. A few weeks ago I caught my foot under a pallet carrying about 1 ton worth of cargo breaking my toe.
So my first weird thing is I went to my companies mandated industrial doctor. The doctor took x-rays and that I broke a section of my bone off my toe. They mentioned if it shifts out of place it would have to get surgery. Also I am in a boot to keep my foot flat. They put me on sit down duty at work. So I just sit in an side office and am suppose to do paper work, but they do not give me anything. Also nobody contacts me about the injury (No HR, no Safety department, no Work Comp Insurance people) through out this whole ordeal.
This goes okay for the first week. Then I go into a weekly follow up to the industrial doctor about two weeks in. They tell me to start walking on my broken toe without a boot. I thought this was really odd as it still hurt really bad so I went to a podiatrist. The podiatrist told me there is nothing to do but to stay completely in the both until Aug 10th. The podiatrist gave me a note saying I have sit down duty until Aug 10th. (Note the industrial doctor gave out notes just one week at a time) Also I have to use my normal insurance as I have no clue who the worker's comp insurance is.
So now I am really confused as there is conflicting information on what to do to heal. Also I have no clue who's doctors note has more authority.
So I go back to work and show my supervisor my note from the podiatrist. He looks at it and said something that it was over 30 days and hands the note back to me. So he doesn't have a copy.
Now what is weird the next day the put me out off the office. The set up two canisters (side by side not face to face) one with loose bags and one empty. They put a chair out there and tell me to take the loose bags put a few in a bag and threw them into the empty canister. Of course this requires movement and is physical. The bags are also in large 6ft refrigerator boxes so I would have had to claim in. I still have a broken toe so it hurt a bit to move around so much. I stopped after maybe 20-30 bags. I sat there for my 3 hour shift with no supervision and left.
So obviously, I'm wondering if this is legal or not so I contacted an employment lawyer. He said there isn't too much since this is a workers comp issue. All he said was to go to HR and complain and be more aggressive with my supervisor. I called my podiatrist hoping to get a note saying I am to do desk work. So the nurse I talk to says yes you are not to bare weight on your foot and they would write a note. However the nurse said she would go talk to the doctor and call me back. Note a day prior I found out my worker's comp information by calling the corporate of the company I work at and gave it to the podiatrist office a day prior.
So the nurse calls me back and says your good to go back to work. I asked on sit down duty. No back to your normal job. They said I could wear the boot if I want. Which is ridiculous because I work in a factory that requires closed boots. I ask if I drop something on my toe if it could break again. She said yes but to be careful... Now this is 3 weeks from Aug 10th so all of this is so crazy. They flip flopped on doctors instructions. I recently went to the industrial doctor (yesterday) and they said NOT to return to work.
So I have no clue what to do. I took the rest of the week off in call ins and have a vacation week next week mostly because I am tired of dealing with this and want my foot to rest.
So what are my rights? Is there anything I can do about the work incident? Who do I trust in terms of doctors orders?
It is all confusing and I can't trust people at my work place. Especially because my supervisor refuses to call my injury worker's comp even though that is what it is filed thorough the insurance company.
Thanks in advance
Submitted July 21, 2016 at 10:47PM by WorkCompQuestion http://ift.tt/2acF6Li legaladvice
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