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Career Retraining

If your injury keeps you from returning to your regular work, your employer will have to determine if your regular job can be modified or if another position can be provided to you to accommodate your permanent disability. If no accommodation can be made and no other job found, you may qualify for vocational rehabilitation benefits.

When your doctor declares you permanent and stationary he will indicate whether or not he thinks you are unlikely to be able to return to your usual and customary job. If the doctor says that he does not believe you can return to your job, you are required to receive from the insurance company a notification of your right to vocational retraining. When you receive this letter from the insurance company mark the box indicating that you would like retraining, unless there is some reason you cannot begin retraining right now and return the form to the insurance company immediately. If you indicate that you would like retraining, the insurance company has to have a trained counselor meet with you to develop a retraining plan. You are entitled to receive weekly benefits while you are in vocational retraining. These benefits should begin upon your notification to the insurance company of your desire to begin retraining. If the insurance company fails to notify you of your right to retraining, or fails to provide you with vocational retraining temporary disability, they are subject to Penalties.

The maximum weekly benefit payable to you during the time you are in retraining is $246.00. In many cases, this is substantially less money than you received during the time that you were temporarily disabled. Unfortunately, until the law is changed $246.00 is the maximum benefit. However, in the event that your temporary disability benefit was higher than this, you can request that the insurance company supplement your vocational retraining maintenance allowance with advances on your settlement up to the amount of your temporary disability award. If you choose for permanent disability advances to be made to you during retraining, you must be aware that the insurance company is entitled to a credit for these advances at the time of settlement.

It is important that you understand that there is a maximum amount of $16,000.00 that the insurance company is required to spend to retrain you. Although this may seem like a lot of money, it is not. The weekly benefit that you are paid is subtracted from this amount. There is also a fee of usually 15-20 percent of this amount that goes to the counselor who will work with you to develop your job plan.

You should know that many employers are subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act. Under this act an employer must provide reasonable accommodation if possible to qualified disabled individuals who can perform all the essential job functions. If you are not able to return to your regular job because of a disability you may have rights under these laws. For more information you can call the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission at 1-800-669-4000.