Should I lose my sick time if I get hurt on the job?
If you are hurt on the job and you miss more than one week of work, then you are eligible to collect Worker’s Compensation lost wage benefits.
Compensation lost wage benefits pay workers at most two-thirds of the average (average is computed over the year preceding the accident) weekly pay and that two-thirds of the average may not exceed $1,145.43 (current rate) per week.
So if your employer uses your sick time while you are out out of work because of an on-the-job accident, then you are entitled to be reimbursed for that sick time at the compensation rate. For example, if your average weekly wage was $900 per week, then your compensation rate is $600 per week. Thus, if your employer used up 15 of your sick days while you are out on Worker’s Compensation, then you would only be reimbursed 10 days by Compensation because the Worker’s Compensation carrier would only reimburse your employer for two-thirds of the value of the sick days. Hence, you would get back 10 of the 15 sick days you had with with your employer.
The exception to this rule is something called the “waiting” period. The rule is that if you are out of work less that one week or less (5 days for for a typical 5 days per week worker), then you are entitled to no compensation benefits and you do not get back any sick time.