A workplace accident can change your life forever.
Indeed, many injured workers I represent divide their lives into “before the accident” and “after the accident.”
But no matter your occupational injuries or how much your related symptoms like pain limit your independence and mobility, life goes on. It does not stop for you, your spouse/significant other, or your children.
Naturally, you still want to enjoy life as much as possible and go on vacations and trips with your family and friends to build and maintain relationships with those who have helped you handle the injury. This travel can even reduce stress, which may positively affect chronic pain.
Fortunately, you can travel while receiving workers’ compensation benefits or waiting for an evidentiary hearing to obtain wage loss payments like temporary total disability (TTD) benefits and lifetime medical coverage.
But, as this article explains, you should consider several things before you travel while on workers’ comp. Taking these steps before vacation can help you protect your benefits.
Continue reading to learn more.
Then complete this online form or call (804) 251-1620 or (757) 810-5614 if you have more questions about workers’ compensation. My law firm has helped hundreds of injured employees navigate the claim process and receive top-dollar workers’ compensation settlements.
Nothing.
Like the laws in many other states, Virginia workers’ compensation rules and statutes do not prevent you from taking a vacation or other type of trip out of state when you are injured. Indeed, the law is silent on this issue.
No.
Workers’ compensation law does not require an injured employee to tell the insurance carrier or claim administrator about travel plans or otherwise get clearance for a trip.
However, the insurer may ask about travel or request the production of photographs or videos from a trip using formal workers’ comp discovery, such as interrogatories, depositions, and requests to produce documents.
If the insurer questions your past vacations, I recommend hiring a workers’ comp lawyer immediately. Depending on the contested issues, you may be able to limit the scope of discovery.
No.
If you have a workers’ comp award for wage loss or permanent impairment of the injured body part (permanent partial disability), you will continue to receive checks while you travel. The employer and insurer’s obligation remains unless the Workers’ Compensation Commission finds probable cause to docket an employer’s application for a hearing.
Though you can travel while on workers’ comp and do not have to report your vacation plans to the insurer, I still recommend taking the below steps to reduce the likelihood that the insurance company will use your trip against you to try to stop benefits.
The insurer can ask the workers’ compensation board to suspend benefits if you miss a doctor’s appointment, physical therapy visit, or diagnostic procedure (such as an MRI, CT scan, or EMG) or have to reschedule.
Therefore, I recommend scheduling medical appointments so they are consistent with leaving town for a vacation or other type of trip.
Or, if you cannot avoid a doctor’s visit during your vacation, ask the physician if a telehealth appointment is okay.
I recommend telling your treating physician about your travel plans, including the activities you plan on doing (family reunion, beach, cruise, etc.).
Ask your doctor (a) if they agree you can take the trip and what activities you should avoid, and (2) to document the conversation in your office visit note.
Then, if you follow your physician’s instructions, the insurer cannot argue that traveling violated medical advice.
If you will travel for an extended period, talk to your doctor about refilling the medicine prescribed for your work-related injury or illness while you are out of town.
Follow the medical work restrictions and limitations your doctor prescribes during your trip. This may mean adjusting your vacation itinerary or not participating in the same activities as your travel partners.
Otherwise, you risk two harms.
First, physically doing more than you are supposed to may slow your recovery or aggravate or exacerbate your medical condition.
Second, the insurer may obtain testimony or documentary evidence that you exceeded your restrictions during the trip, causing you to lose credibility with the Commission or your doctor. This loss of credibility may lead to a full-duty release or a finding you are no longer as disabled as you allege.
When you claim or receive workers’ compensation, you should presume the claim adjuster or the insurance defense attorney will view your social media profiles (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, etc.) or ask for printouts from them at some point in the litigation.
Therefore, you must be careful about what you post when traveling and throughout your occupational injury claim.
In some situations, you must show a consistent effort to find work to receive workers’ comp.
For example, you must market your remaining work capacity if your doctor has released you to light duty, but you do not have an open award for wage loss benefits.
Vacation does not void this requirement. If this situation applies to you, I recommend you continue looking for work online while on vacation. Many employers prefer that job candidates submit applications via the Internet.
Similarly, the insurance company can sometimes force you to cooperate with vocational rehabilitation or risk losing your wage loss benefits.
If so, schedule your vocational rehabilitation appointments around your travel plans. Ask the rehab counselor to text or email the plan for the upcoming weeks, then cooperate.
You are allowed to travel while on workers’ compensation. The reason for the trip does not matter – vacation, family reunion, taking a child to a sports event – you can take it.
But remember, insurance companies will likely find out that you traveled. And when they do, they may investigate or conduct surveillance to gather evidence that you are not as injured or disabled as you claim.
So, you must follow your doctor’s medical advice when you travel while receiving or claiming workers’ compensation, and you should take steps to ensure you do not miss medical appointments, judicial proceedings, or vocational rehabilitation meetings.
Our attorneys help injured employees throughout Virginia get and keep their benefits and negotiate top-dollar lump-sum payments. Call now to see if we will accept representation: (804) 251-1620 or (757) 810-5614.