Workers' Compensation Policy
Workers’ Compensation insurance provides wage-loss and medical benefits to compensate employees who are injured or contract a disease as a result of employment. Following injury or the onset of a job-related disease, the incident must be reported as soon as possible to the Office of Human Resources so that a workers’ compensation incident report may be completed and mailed to the institution’s insurance carrier. FMLA will run concurrent with any work-related injury assuming there is lost time.
Employees are required to report injuries suffered on the job immediately to their supervisor, or if their supervisor is not available, to the Office of Human Resources. Except in emergency situations, all work-related injuries must be treated at the facilities designated by the institution in order to be considered for payment. Under Pennsylvania law, an employer may designate a panel of physicians, including specialists, by whom employees must be treated during their first 90 days of treatment received as a result of a work-related injury.
An updated physician panel is maintained by the Office of Human Resources and is posted throughout the campus, the college intranet under Human Resources and on the college website at .
Whenever possible, non-exempt support staff employees unable to perform their job functions due to restrictions placed on them by a treating-panel physician may qualify for the institutional temporary light-duty program. This allows the chance for the employee to continue to work at full wage for up to three months or until such time as the employee can return to his or her regular position without medical restrictions. While light-duty work is encouraged, it is not guaranteed due to the limited number of light-duty positions available. For the purpose of this policy, the number of light-duty positions is limited to three at any given time.
In the event that a staff member is injured on the job and cannot return to work, income benefits will begin on the eighth calendar day of the absence. The initial seven days will be charged against the employee’s bank of sick leave, vacation, or personal time benefits. Beginning on the eighth day, the institution will provide the employee with a continuance of regular gross pay for the period of one month (30 calendar days). This benefit is in lieu of the partial benefit typically received through workers' compensation. However, the employee must turn over to the institution any workers' compensation checks received in order to receive the normal paycheck. If the work-related injury extends beyond thirty (30) calendar days from the date of injury, the employee will continue to be compensated by the workers' compensation carrier, but the institutional payments will cease. Since the work-related injury runs concurrent with FMLA, the health insurance benefits of an employee eligible for FMLA leave will continue to be paid by the institution for up to three months, after which arrangements must be made for payment with the Office of Human Resources in order to insure continued coverage. There is no continued accrual of time-off benefits after the one-month institutional contributions end.
All bills and documentation related to a staff member’s work-related injury must be submitted to the Office of Human Resources in a timely fashion in order to be processed for payment. Questions in regard to individual claims or regarding this policy should be directed to the Office of Human Resources.