Alwaysflyin...DO NOT DO WHAT SOCKS is suggesting. First of all it is dishonest if you are not healed enough to return to full duty.
The next thing you need to do and do ASAP is contact your states acency that controls worker's comp issues. Ask THEM what you should do and what YOUR rights are. In Texas compensation is determined by the wages you earned on average per week for a set number of weeks prior to the time you were injured, the hourly wage is irrelevant in the calculations of Temporary Income Benefits. If you are a FT driver at top pay you would have passed the maximum for TIB payments in which your TIBs would be a % of the average pay. Now, if you work TAW, you should be payed at your normal pay rate for what ever hours you work. If that is less than the TIBs (becaused of reduced hours) the TIBs will take up the slack to the maximum payment. Example: If the TIBs total $575 a week, but your TWA paycheck is only $400, you will recieve a TIB for $175.
Of course your state may be different and your union contract could be different than mine, so you need to talk to your union business manager as well as the state WC agency.
DO NOT LISTEN TO SOCKS... he is on record here as being a self discribed union hater and would more than likely lead you astray. Good luck to you.
One more thing, don't put yourself in the position of letting UPS make the calls for your medical treatment. Regardless of what Socks says, you are just a warm body to help the center make their numbers, if you can do that regardless of how much pain or how much more damage you are doing to your body, that is what they will expect of you. You and YOUR doctor should be the only ones making the decision on when you return to work.
