Yes, if you have related medical bills and expenses that need to be paid, you can work and collect workers’ comp benefits. In some cases, you may be required to return to work. In other cases, it gets complicated and you’ll need to know the rules, or you could lose benefits.
The North Carolina workers’ compensation system has two objectives: to provide benefits to support individuals who have been injured on the job and to ensure these individuals return to work if they can.
In most cases, a worker who obtains workers’ comp benefits fully recovers from his or her injury and returns to work, and the benefits end. But not all workers’ comp cases are that straightforward.
Sometimes, an injured worker who has not fully recovered is released by the doctor to return to work part-time, or the employer wants the worker to perform light-duty work while he or she is still under a doctor’s care. This individual will continue to have medical bills, so he or she will want to continue to collect worker’s compensation benefits.
The Raleigh workers’ compensation lawyers at Younce, Vtipil, Baznik & Banks, P.A., have helped many injured workers obtain and maintain workers’ compensation benefits in North Carolina. Each injured worker’s recovery is different. Many variables affect how long a worker will remain out of work and how long benefits may be paid. Below are some scenarios for working while on workers’ compensation.