Voluntary Payment of Workers’ Comp: Take It, But Don’t Stop

Can I Accept the Voluntary Payment of Workers’ Compensation Benefits?

Receiving Voluntary Payments for Wage Loss and Medical Bills is Okay. But You Must Still Satisfy Procedural Rules to Protect Your Rights and Gain Leverage in Settlement Talks

Key Takeaways:

Keep these points in mind if you are short on time:

• • Workers’ compensation systems promote the voluntary payment of compensation and medical benefits to injured employees. You can accept them (and I recommend it).

• • Voluntary payments do not eliminate the procedural requirements.

• • Claim adjusters might use voluntary payments to keep you complacent and delay formal action on your claim, potentially terminating benefits once the statute of limitations expires.

What You Must Know About the Voluntary Payment of Workers’ Comp

Virginia’s workers’ comp system promotes prompt and voluntary payments to injured employees.

The case law says so. A 1999 judicial opinion tells readers that the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission “encourages employers to make voluntary compensation payments while investigating a claim.”

Encouragement to pay voluntary workers’ comp benefits is not unique to Virginia. It is universal. Federal courts interpreting the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act have said this law is meant to encourage payment of compensation by employers to employees voluntarily and without formal adversary proceedings (like an evidentiary hearing).

Sometimes, insurers, employers, and third-party claim administrators like Sedgwick, ESIS, PMA, or Gallagher Bassett follow the Commission’s request and make voluntary payments of compensation to injured employees. These voluntary payments may continue for weeks, months, or even years after the industrial accident or the diagnosis of an occupational disease.

Even more commonly, employers and insurers will voluntarily pay for medical treatment for an occupational injury.

Receiving voluntary payments for your work injury is okay. You can and should cash the check for temporary total disability benefits if you cannot work due to a job-related injury. And you should accept the offer to cover medical care.

But you cannot stop there.

Though receiving income and health care while out of work is a good thing, the voluntary payment of workers’ compensation benefits is also a trick insurance adjusters use to lull you into a false sense of security.

Here is why sitting back and relaxing when the employer makes voluntary payments is dangerous:

• Your right to continue receiving benefits is unprotected until the parties complete and send a memorandum of agreement to the Commission and the Commission approves it by entering an Award Order. Otherwise, the employer can stop making voluntary payments without notice or explanation to you. This threat of stopping payments suddenly gives the employer leverage during workers’ compensation settlement talks. A financially strapped employee is more likely to accept a low offer (and the first offer usually is) than one guaranteed payment by an Award Order.

• The voluntary payment of wage loss benefits, your normal salary, or medical bills for a specific body part or injury will not automatically toll (extend) the statute of limitations for filing the first claim for benefits or a change-in-condition application. You still must file the proper pleading with the Commission (or your state’s executive board overseeing industrial accidents and illnesses) before the applicable deadline expires. Otherwise, you risk losing benefits. The insurance adjuster assigned to your case knows the timeline for filing a claim. And some will stop making voluntary payments as soon as the statute of limitations runs if you have not filed a claim.

Like many of the injured employees I have spoken with and represented, you may be content to receive voluntary payments so that you do not “sue” your employer or annoy the claim adjuster.

But your desire to avoid hurting your employer’s feelings can harm you, costing you tens of thousands of dollars (or more).

Further, filing a workers’ compensation claim differs from bringing a civil action for personal injuries against your employer.

Workers’ comp is the exclusive remedy against your employer for most occupational injuries. You can sue your employer in civil court, but the court will likely dismiss the lawsuit after the employer files a demurrer or a plea in bar.

In addition, the law requires your employer to self-insure or buy workers’ comp insurance coverage for your benefit. The employer expects you to file a claim after you get hurt at work. Some companies may even require it.

So, accept the voluntary payment of workers’ comp after your occupational injury or illness. But remember to continue with the workers’ comp claim process until you have an Award Order that covers all your work-related injuries and provides all the disability benefits the law allows.

If you have questions about your case and want to speak with one of Virginia’s best workers’ compensation lawyers, call our firm (804-251-1620) or complete this online form. We represent injured employees throughout the Commonwealth.