If you suffered a workplace injury and are out on a Connecticut workers’ compensation claim you are receiving benefits. Under state law you cannot be fired as retaliation for filing a claim and if you are, your company is doing something illegal and should be held accountable for it.
What if your company goes through a period of layoffs while you’re receiving benefits and your position is part of the layoff, will you lose your benefits? The short answer is no. When you were injured and settled your claim with your employer you likely agreed to a set amount of benefits and that would not change as the result of a layoff from that job. This is true in the event that a company is laying off employees for business reasons and not retaliatory reasons.
While layoffs happen, it may also happen that the company is going out of business for one reason or another. Your employment with the company, along with all of their other employees, will be terminated but it should still not affect your benefits. Your workers’ compensation benefits are paid out by your company’s insurance company and unless that company is facing financial hardship it should not affect your benefits at all.
There is a scenario though, where you might lose your benefits if you lose your job. If you are let go from your employment for cause, it may void your workers’ compensation claim and you may no longer be compensated for your injury. For instance, if it was discovered that you had been stealing from the company while you were out with an injury, you could be fired by the company and in turn lose your benefits.
Being on a workers’ compensation claim does not isolate you from the ups and downs of your company, but it should isolate you from losing your benefits. As long as you are following the guidelines of your claim you should not lose your benefits even if your company faces hardship.
If your company is going out of business or is facing layoffs and your job is at jeopardy because of it, you may want an attorney to represent you to ensure that your claim is still met without interruption. Contact our office and one of our board certified attorneys will review your case.
