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Changing Jobs with a Pending Workers’ Compensation Claim

By California Business Journal Editorial Staff

Workers’ compensation funds are not pegged to continued employment in the company where the claimant was injured. Consequently, injured workers are entitled to receive benefits even if they change jobs. Injured workers planning to change jobs should discuss everything with workers’ comp lawyers and obtain all the answers they need to protect their workers’ comp benefits or pending claims.

Changing Jobs with Unsettled Workers Compensation Claims

Workers who sustain major or minor injuries in a workplace accident and have filed workers’ compensation claims aren’t in any way prohibited from shifting jobs. Workers’ compensation is created to cover the lost wages and medical costs the injured worker incurs, not to stop the worker from working.

If an injured worker, who isn’t on leave and has a pending workers’ comp claim, is searching for a new job or receives a new job offer, he or she will be in the same situation as any other individual who is switching jobs.

The worker can give a formal resignation notice and take the new job.

If the worker’s injuries exacerbate or the worker requires additional medical care, the worker would enjoy the same rights he or she would have enjoyed had he or she not switched jobs.

How Changing Jobs Impacts Pending Workers’ Compensation Claims

Workers with pending compensation claims qualify for partial wage loss benefits if earnings from the new job are less than what they made in the previous job. If the worker has accrued a substantial medical debt, he or she can wipe it out by filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

A workers’ compensation recipient who switches jobs could continue getting medical benefits for care related to his or her workplace injury. The insurer might, however, require the worker to visit a certified physician a fixed number of times every year to continue getting the benefits.

Injured workers who are still receiving compensation benefits or have pending claims are entitled to their benefits or claims even after taking a new job in a different state. Those workers, however, should keep in mind that state laws of where they got injured still apply.

Seeking Legal Support

The laws and processes associated with workers’ compensation are a bit confusing. An injured worker should strive to understand the workers’ compensation process and work closely with a workers’ comp attorney. That way, the worker would have a lower risk of jeopardizing his or her pending workers’ compensation claim or losing eligibility for financial and medical benefits when shifting jobs.