As the holidays approach we often hear a question about whether it is ok to go on vacation while collecting Connecticut workers’ compensation benefits. The short answer is, yes you can go on vacation if you so desire while collecting temporary total or permanent partial disability benefits.
While you can legally go on vacation while collecting benefits there is one rather large caveat to this answer and that is, if you are doing something on vacation that your doctor explicitly told you you could not do during your recovery process from your injury you may lose your benefits if it is discovered that you went against doctors orders.
Let’s say you injured your back and strained it to the point that your doctor told you that active sports were not a good idea while you heal. Then you and your spouse take off to a tropical destination for vacation. While there you rent a jetski and snap some photos that get posted on social media and they are discovered. You may lose your benefits and be referred to the State Fraud Unit.
The best way to vacation by the book is to obey your doctors orders and get very specific instructions from him/her so that you can participate in the activities that have been allowed and avoid those that could cause your injury to flare up or even worse, reinjure yourself. If you do this, it could lead to issues with your Connecticut workers’ compensation benefits.
If you were injured on the job and you need someone to review your benefits claims, contact our office and one of our board certified attorneys will review the details for you.
