Can I be Fired For Pursuing Workers’ Compensation Benefits After an On-the-Job Injury?

An employer cannot fire or otherwise discriminate against an employee who takes steps toward obtaining workers’ compensation benefits for a job-related injury. This protection applies even before a workers’ compensation claim is actually filed, so long as the employer is aware of the injury. Here are some of the kinds of evidence that are often important in proving a claim for workers’ compensation retaliation:

• A short amount of time between the date of the injury and date of termination or other discrimination (for example, demotion, pay decrease, or schedule change).
• Knowledge of the injury by the supervisor doing the firing or otherwise retaliating.
• Expressions of hostility toward the worker’s injured condition (for example, calling an employee on medical light duty “the office bitch” and making him or her clean the bathrooms).
• Giving false reasons for the firing or other retaliation.
• Failing to follow established company policies in dealing with the injured worker.
• Treating the injured employee different from employees who were not injured on the job.

The physical limitations from a job-related injury (even when backed up by a doctor’s note) do not automatically excuse you from performing the essential functions of your job. The employer may be allowed to fire you legally if your medical restrictions prohibit you from performing any part of your job that is truly important over an extended period of time. However, the employer must make reasonable accommodations for such limitations (for example, by giving you “light duty”) to the same extent they would for an employee who was temporarily disabled for reasons other than a workplace injury (say, as the result of a car accident).  The idea is that the employer can’t treat your restrictions more harshly just because they result from an on-the-job injury.

An employee has up to two years from the date of the retaliation to begin legal action.