short term leave from work
 

Hi guys, so from my post before, my injuries has gotten worse. Doctor has given me go ahead to take time off from work to recover and see if my health condition gets better.

Question is, work has been trying to stir me away from reporting to worksafe, they provided me papers to bring to doctor to fill out for short term leave and maybe compensation if approved for lost days of work. In this case, what is the better option for me? I am not sure how long it will take for either option to be compensated for a month.

Safety officer got so mad yesterday when I said I should be going to worksafe, and also I spoke to someone at worksafe and they highly recommend me reporting to them and making a claim but at the same time I am worried about my employer treating me differently after all of this.

"maybe compensation"? found out for sure. Ask questions like are they willing to compensate you until you are recovered or what.

The fact that the safety officer is against worksafe says a lot about your workplace. I'd just go straight to worksafe.

Have everything documented. Use email as form of communication between your safety officer so you 'evidence' should things go south.

Straight to Worksafe.

We're supposed to report to Worksafe even if it's like a small cut at my work. Sucks because it's a pain in the ass for relatively minor injuries, but I guess it's a nice backup if you get an infection or something.

But, yeah, something seems weird with your safety officer getting mad about you filing a claim with Worksafe.

+1 for this. If they get pissy about you going to worksafe, there's something shady going on that they don't want them to know about. While you're off, I would start looking for a new job. It's been my experience that these kind of employers will try to find any reason to fire you when you return.

from what i heard, they are afraid of getting in trouble because the company has to pay more rates since our company has been having alot of injuries lately. Worksafe said that it could take up to 8 months for me to see compensation for lost time because my type of injury occurred over a period of time, and if it was an injury caused on the same day then that would be different and only take up to 3 weeks to process. So my work is offering the short term leave without reporting to worksafe which is 2-4 weeks to process and they will cover up to 60%? of my lost time.

Fuck 'em. Go through Worksafe. Your company doesn't give a damn about you, and you shouldn't give a flying fuck at a rolling donut about what kinda of situation they're getting into.

Yup, take the leave as long as possible and look for a job while at it cause they will get rid of you when you return. I've seen this happen in a non union manufacturing job while I was going through school.

no question about it, go worksafe. get your own ass covered. you will be on your own if your injury gets worse or if you need more time off to recover. it sucks it takes that long to get compensated but you will be taken care of by worksafe. can't say the same that your employer will do that for you from the sounds of it.

Go to worksafe, report it for the sake of everybody else involved now and in the future. Trying to convince you not to report it is a sure sign your employer is a douche. They're basically saying you mean nothing to them. Heed the advice of others on RS and start seriously looking for another job. It's not going to end okay no matter what you do. Don't include this place in your resume.

I'm not gonna dissuade you from going to worksafe, your employer should not be doing that either.

The documents they are providing you though, could be legitimate.

If you are injured in your work place, your employer likely has a safety manual of some sort. Generally these manuals have forms for a doctor to fill out which advises what you can or can't do, due to your injury condition.

For example someone with a broken leg, can't walk around, but they are perfectly capable of doing desk work. Most companies work to provide modified duties to these employees, this keeps the employee at work, while giving them the chance to continue making money while they recover

Here is Worksafe's stance on modified duties:

https://www.worksafebc.com/en/resour...d-work?lang=en

Directly from their site:

The bottom line is that, your employer will request certain forms to be filled out by your doctor if you were injured at work. You absolutely have to have these filled out, worksafe will tell you this. Depending on the company and what the doctor fills out your employer may be able to find you modified duties, if can and do, you get to continue going to work, and continue to get paid your regular rate until you are healthy.

Based on your past post though, and how you despise working for this company, I suspect that your injuries will somehow be so bad, that there is no possible way you can do anything besides sit at home in bed.

In which case your company will have a new LTI (Lost Time Incident), and a new WCB claim on their record which will drive up their cost for coverage. This is why companies often will pay problematic employees who want to claim WCB to sit at home while collecting full wage, because it can be cheaper than paying the hike in WCB rates. (This is like paying out your insurance claim in an at fault accident, to keep your rates from climbing).

Oh and for god sakes Worksafe doesn't tolerate bullshit, if they catch you lying about workplace injuries they will fuck your life up. It's fraud.

Weren't you the one that wanted to go on EI? Here's a good chance, although WCB will probably pay you more. Just saying when WCB stops paying you and you have to return to work, you now have a reason (employees and managers treating you unjustly for reporting to work safe) to quit and still get EI.

You can't quit and get EI.

Yes you can. If something in your workplace forces you to quit, you're eligible.

Things like threats and harassment where management/HR isn't doing a thing about. A friend of mine got EI from quitting because he was under a lot of stress that caused depression from his supervisor.

Man didn't know so much shits involved from WorkSafe. Trades people don't have it easy with all that.

did your friend report it to his superiors? Part of my reason I do not report it because at the end, all the managers and higher up management will have each others backs, so there is no reason for me to even go up to one of them and say so and so is treating me like this or saying that. There have been so much racist remarks to several people at work its not even funny. I have even reported it in a work survey that goes straight to VP of the company and haven't heard shit.

Any idea how he reported all this to service canada for EI? I am in a hole right now, basically can;t afford time off work because I need the 100% pay for all the bills and not to mention my injuries.

If the company won't deal with the issue, you can contact worksafe about bullying and harassment. They will deal with it.

I highly recommend you contact Worksafe and talk to them about your situation. They are here to help. Asking on this forum, while we can provide some insight, unless you are willing to post absolutely all the facts, we can't help you. And so far you are being very vague with all the details.

The only thing I will caution you on, don't bullshit the process. So far you have skipped from jumping on EI, to bullying and harassment, and now workplace injury. I'm not calling you a liar, but I am warning you that I have seen people try to lie to get onto WCB and EI, and their employers have demolished them, almost bringing them to the point of financial ruin, not to mention these people can barely find a job in the industry now.

On the last little bit, you have to report issues, like that, if you don't report it for fear of losing your job, or them not doing anything. That doesn't give them the chance to try and correct the issue. While reporting on a survey is a great step, unless you go to your HR or someone in a position of power, you really haven't tried hard enough. If this is something which is serious enough that is has you contemplating quitting, you really need to go tell them. And document it, with an email or a signed letter. That way if they fire you 2 days later, you can go to worksafe/Employment canada, and they will deal with your employer on unjust termination.

Again keep in mind, you cannot just do whatever you want here, and expect others to pick up the pieces for you. You need to give your employer the chance to correct the issue, just like if they had a problem with your work, they have to give you a chance to correct it by giving you verbal and written warnings before firing you.

Same goes for injuries, you cannot be fired for reporting an injury, at the same time, you have a duty to work with your employer to get back to work as quickly as possible, even if that means on modified duties. And then you need to have open communication with them on how your recovery is going and all of this involves lots of doctors visits, and lots of paperwork on your end, and their's

No they do not. If you are injured at work, it is genuinely a big deal. On job sites, and for construction companies it is a BIG deal.

Depending on the type of construction and the project, companies can actually be declined work if they have poor safety statistics (indicated by their WCB information). This is because no owner wants injuries or a death on their job site. Issues like these cause delays, not to mention the emotional part.

WCB also isn't cheap, and if you have a rash of injuries, it can shoot your rate class through the roof, and you won't be able to afford coverage, which would basically put you out of business.

Any big construction company takes the issue of workplace injuries VERY seriously, because they understand the importance of not having incidents. We aren't bullshitting when we say Safety First, and every company and person will tell you that comes from a place of genuine care for those around you, and it does. But it also comes from a place where I don't want to see financial ruin, so I have to take it seriously.

I mean lets be honest, there's not limit to what you can build or do, when you just throw death and suffering at it (Pyramids?, railway across america?). Luckily for us, the days of that type of construction are long gone.

1) Document everything

2) Don't lie. Worksafe will investigate and your work will do the same. Nothing is worse then getting caught and ruining your reputation (not sure what field you're in).

3) Lastly ****** KEEP GOING TO YOUR DOCTOR*****. If you have an injury, continue to go to as many specialist as possible since you do have a valid health issue. If you don't go, it can be seen as "guy doesn't even go to doctors anymore = no need for recovery, should be healed and recovered = not serious". DO NOT make the mistake of not going. My friend was on a 2.5 yr case but I forced him to go get follow ups after he wanted to just stay home after 2 weeks and said he was ok.

4) WORK is NOT your friend. They are in the best interest to close your case or get you to not file. Document what happened or said, and report back to case manager if it's significant. eg// bullying etc

"hey jack, you should be ok, i'm the safety manager and have seen this happen and nothing happens at the end, people get better. Help me eliminate some paperwork, let's not file this incident and you just take 3 days off and see what happens" shit like this is dangerous.

Sounds like your company deserves it and needs to get it's shit together regarding safety

It sounds like one side of the story.

i actually have everything recorded the moment I stepped into their office. If they decide to screw me over, well thats gonna be their problem. I have proof of them telling me not to go to worksafe and such.

The harassment, injuries is very much true, my coworkers have said if anything happens they will be my witnesses. In years before, someone starteds rumors of my private life for no reason, brought me down into depression and lots of stress, and now with my injuries, all the stress has built up and I do not know which route to take. I can;t just quit. To make things easier I am sucking it up, told them i'd come back to do modified duties.

If I report this to vice president/HR person of our company, they will confront the managers but i don't believe anything will be done, knowing those guys.

But you're never gonna get any help by "assuming things won't get done"

You'll never win a case with that. At least if you tell them and shit actually doesn't get done then you can say you tried every available option

I do EHS for a living, and everyone here summed it up for you.

The bottom line is: if the incident happened at work, you first report the incident/injury to your supervisor/manager to get it on record then seek first aid on-site if it’s required. If deemed necessary by the first aider or by request from the patient, the patient can seek medical aid. At the medical aid/your own doctor tell the Dr your injury is work related. The Doctors will then file your diagnosis with WSBC and make sure you report it to WSBC yourself as well. Once WSBC receive these documents, they will ask your employer for their Form 7 regarding your incident. A case manager will be assigned to your case then from there on it will be managed by WSBC together with your work’s EHS personnel and your doctor.

Let me know if you need me to clarify the process up more or any other questions you may have regarding EHS practices…etc.

What 6793026 said about document everything. My friend consistently went to labor board to file complaints, even though labor board never approached his company to do anything, it was on record.

He was also diagnosed with mild depression and he pointed out it was his supervisor that caused it.

Basically, if you are honestly suffering from things at work and forces you to quit, you'll be fine. It's the part where you lie and stuff that won't get you anything. That is not to say you can't trigger events at work to force you to quit.