Do I Have to Look for a Job During the COVID Pandemic If I Have a Workplace Injury?
While the world seems to have changed a lot during the last six months, the Virginia Workers’ Compensation law has remained the same:
The injured worker must show consistent, reasonable and written record of looking for work in order to be eligible to receive weekly wage loss benefits. In other words, unless an injured worker is bedridden, hospitalized or institutionalized, then they must be able to demonstrate to a workers’ compensation judge that they looked for work each week. The injured partially disabled employee must use the same strategies that they used to get the job where they were injured.
Watch our video below to hear attorney Doug Landau speak more on this subject:
We understand how difficult it may be during this time, but you must do the best you can to market your remaining abilities.
Marketing means:
- • Registering with the Department of Rehabilitative Services in your state, the Virginia Employment Commission, or the Employment Commission of where you reside and other state, local and federal agencies that help with finding work, training and education
- • Going online to job boards such as Indeed.com and Monster.com to look for light-duty work within your restrictions
- • Looking in the newspapers, periodicals, and job boards and asking friends, families and neighbors
You must keep written records and receipts of your job search efforts since you will be asked in written Discovery, in pre-trial deposition, and at the Hearing what you did each week to look for light-duty work. If you cannot show your marketing efforts, you may not get any money for that week.
Additionally, Virginia has a new suite of technology tools to help Virginians take full advantage of the supportive services available. The Virginia Career Works Referral Portal is “a groundbreaking statewide platform that refers individuals to programs that assist them in advancing their career paths and financial independence through training, certification, education and employment services.” The new Virginia Career Works Dashboard is an innovative data visualization tool that makes information about Virginia’s labor market and workforce system more accessible to workers, businesses, and policymakers.
If you or someone you know was injured while working due to no fault of your own, please give us a call (703-795-9555) or email us at Abrams Landau, Ltd.