Work Comp claims.

[dilligaf]

I have been out for two different repetitive motion injuries. Herniated discs in the neck and carpal tunnel on both hands. Liberty didn't even flinch at paying me. You get a check every two weeks, Dilli.
We get 66% of your pay at the time of the injury. Your award, as they call it, doesn't change. It does not go up as your pay increases at UPS. In NY, they have changed it to where you gat up to $650 a week-bi-weekly paid. When I went out, the top award was $500. Just wait, Dilli. Here, after a time, they send you to their 'doctor' who assesses your rating of disability. And, they will do this, eventually. They reduce your pay according to that rating, no matter what your doctor says. Then, you have to go to court to get your money back. Hire a good attorney. Interview them. Don't let them take more than 10%. Make them set the amount they get for doing things. They will take some of the money you get back from court. Mine only got $200 out of the $10,000 he got back for me. He gets paid by the court/Liberty, not you. The only money he can take is what you agree to. That part is important. No one thinks of that stuff beforehand. PM me, if you need more info. Having been on this merry-go-round since 12.14.07, I have learned a lot. The ins co's and UPS use our lack of knowledge against us.

Do not forget, that you can get a second opinion(at least in NY we can) at their expense. Sometimes that is a good ting when going to court to force something like an MRI. Usually, the court sides with your doctor, but not always. Be very careful what you say to their doctor.

So far, I haven't heard anything about a 2nd opinion from LibMut. I know at some point I will probably have to. Right now my ortho surgeon is handling it and he has dealt with LibMut on many many occasion and hates my adjuster (had to deal with him tooo many times).

 

[moreluck]

Is the PT helping? If so I agree that it is a much more cost effective solution than a MRI.

Doctor ??

 

[dilligaf]

$803 max a week in Florida. They go back 13 weeks from the time of injury to calculate your rate of pay. 66% Of your gross pay but not to exceed $803. The laws have defiantly changed,they don't benefit the employee and really screw attorneys taking comp cases. There is a max I believe in what they can charge for fees.

​I wish it was 13 weeks here. 52 weeks and I had several weeks of lay off earlier in the year so my W/C pay is 200 less than what it should be.

 

[dilligaf]

Is the PT helping? If so I agree that it is a much more cost effective solution than a MRI.

​No!

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

​No!

If it's not working and you feel it is a waste of time you need to tell them this and that you want the MRI.

 

[menotyou]

So far, I haven't heard anything about a 2nd opinion from LibMut. I know at some point I will probably have to. Right now my ortho surgeon is handling it and he has dealt with LibMut on many many occasion and hates my adjuster (had to deal with him tooo many times).

The second opinion thing is, usually, down the road. I am glad you have a good doctor. Every doctor I have interacted with knows LM and hates them. I am on my third case manager, and he is-shh- quite good. I talk to him, at least,, once a month for something. My last one was fired he was so bad. He pissed off the Albany H&S manager so bad one time. She was spitting bullets. the next time I called to see if he had received a fax I sent, I found out he wasn't an employee anymore.

 

[dilligaf]

Is there any way you could drive while a helper delivers?

I was injured Aug 1. Pain in shoulder, elbow and wrist and tingling and numbness in 3 fingers and palm. This was Wed night. Thurs morning went to their Urgent Care. UC doc put me out of work Thurs/Fri and okayed me to return to light duty Mon. My DM was pissed that the doc put me out Thur/Fri. He said there was no reason why I couldn't go back to work on light duty (I KNOW I KNOW-he thinks he's a doctor). We had a big hooooha in his office. I was actually having fun with it. LMFAO! He said that I didn't want this and I was thinking 'no P, you don't want this'. Told him it made no difference to me. Told him LibMut sucks. He said that was my personal opinion. I said YES IT IS. The conversation went on for about 15 minutes. I walked out saying, 'anything else P? see ya, guess I'm a lost time injury'.

He denied me light duty because I was a lost time injury.

LibMut wanted to know why I wasn't doing light duty. I told them.

 

[dilligaf]

If it's not working and you feel it is a waste of time you need to tell them this and that you want the MRI.

I have a doctor appt on Tues. That's exactly what's going to happen and my doctor isn't going to be nice about it.

 

[menotyou]

I was injured Aug 1. Pain in shoulder, elbow and wrist and tingling and numbness in 3 fingers and palm. This was Wed night. Thurs morning went to their Urgent Care. UC doc put me out of work Thurs/Fri and okayed me to return to light duty Mon. My DM was pissed that the doc put me out Thur/Fri. He said there was no reason why I couldn't go back to work on light duty (I KNOW I KNOW-he thinks he's a doctor). We had a big hooooha in his office. I was actually having fun with it. LMFAO! He said that I didn't want this and I was thinking 'no P, you don't want this'. Told him it made no difference to me. Told him LibMut sucks. He said that was my personal opinion. I said YES IT IS. The conversation went on for about 15 minutes. I walked out saying, 'anything else P? see ya, guess I'm a lost time injury'.

He denied me light duty because I was a lost time injury.

LibMut wanted to know why I wasn't doing light duty. I told them.

Me, too.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

So you could have been working light duty all this time but instead let your temper get the best of you and now you are scrambling because comp hasn't paid you yet??

 

[menotyou]

So you could have been working light duty all this time but instead let your temper get the best of you and now you are scrambling because comp hasn't paid you yet??

Don't you think that's a bit rude?

 

[moreluck]

Don't you think that's a bit rude?

It's Sunday, what else do you expect?.....like clockwork. Hang on, he'll be leaving for the game soon!!

 

[dilligaf]

Truthfully, I'm not sure I could handle their 'light duty'. Just doing stuff around the house hurts. I have 'no lift, push, pull over 10 lbs' and it hurts putting a gal of milk in the refrig if I move the wrong way. I suspect there is going to be something involving the nerve in my shoulder as my elbow basically has not quit hurting for the last month and a half. My PT has me doing light exercises with minimal resistance but there are a couple of the exercises that hurt. It's all dependent on what muscles are being used. My ortho wants an MRI w/arthrogram (injection of dye).

 

[dilligaf]

So you could have been working light duty all this time but instead let your temper get the best of you and now you are scrambling because comp hasn't paid you yet??

​Before I jump down your throat, if you are asking me you better go back and reread.

 

[dilligaf]

Don't you think that's a bit rude?

​That's ok. I can handle him.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

​Before I jump down your throat, if you are asking me you better go back and reread.

I apologize for the tone as I did not mean for it to come out like that. All I was trying to say is that if you were given the chance to perform light duty and keep your current paycheck and felt you could do the light duty that it may have been the best option for you. Light duty in my center ranges from driving and having a helper deliver to answering the phones to doing safety tests on the computer all day. They do what they can to prevent a loss time injury.

 

[dilligaf]

I was injured Aug 1. Pain in shoulder, elbow and wrist and tingling and numbness in 3 fingers and palm. This was Wed night. Thurs morning went to their Urgent Care. UC doc put me out of work Thurs/Fri and okayed me to return to light duty Mon. My DM was pissed that the doc put me out Thur/Fri. He said there was no reason why I couldn't go back to work on light duty (I KNOW I KNOW-he thinks he's a doctor). We had a big hooooha in his office. I was actually having fun with it. LMFAO! He said that I didn't want this and I was thinking 'no P, you don't want this'. Told him it made no difference to me. Told him LibMut sucks. He said that was my personal opinion. I said YES IT IS. The conversation went on for about 15 minutes. I walked out saying, 'anything else P? see ya, guess I'm a lost time injury'.

He denied me light duty because I was a lost time injury.

LibMut wanted to know why I wasn't doing light duty. I told them.

Just to clarify, I didn't lose my temper, he did. He was pissed. I was having fun with it. Needling him but not once did I raise my voice or lose my temper. I especially had fun when he slipped and said that they had called UC and told them what the 'restrictions' were. I jumped on that with both feet.

 

[Johney]

What part of your body does the Doc want to do an MRI,shoulder? Usually once you are put out of work(lost-time)Liberty moves pretty fast to get things done so they can get you back to work asap. Seems strange for them to be dragging their feet at this point.

 

[dilligaf]

I apologize for the tone as I did not mean for it to come out like that. All I was trying to say is that if you were given the chance to perform light duty and keep your current paycheck and felt you could do the light duty that it may have been the best option for you. Light duty in my center ranges from driving and having a helper deliver to answering the phones to doing safety tests on the computer all day. They do what they can to prevent a loss time injury.

It wasn't my call. All of this took place on Thurs. I called my new OR on Thurs and told him about my conversation with P. Told him that I was planning on coming to work on Mon but I didn't know if P was going to let me. Fri morning I got a call from P saying he wasn't going to give me light duty. I assumed as much but until I got the official word I was planning on returning to work.

 

[dilligaf]

What part of your body does the Doc want to do an MRI,shoulder? Usually once you are put out of work(lost-time)Liberty moves pretty fast to get things done so they can get you back to work asap. Seems strange for them to be dragging their feet at this point.

Yes, a shoulder MRI. I would think the same thing but my adjuster is an ass. My hubby was out on W/C and the same ortho doc requested an MRI and he had no problem getting it (LibMut also). Different adjuster. Some of this is going to come to a head on Mon. I've had it with this adj.