Workers Compensation Benefits Taxed

[smcguire2001]

My husband injured his arm at work in 2001. He was denied wc, filed an appeal and won. He was paid a partial perm. disability payment for the % loss of use of his arm. He returned to work in a job that met his physical restrictions on his arm. In 2009 he returned to work after an extended medical leave for surgery. He was placed on a different job that reaggravated his arm injury. The company put him out of work until a job that met his restrictions on his arm was available. He was out of work for over a year. For the first 12 months he received workers comp payments. After the payments stopped, he was told that he was paid supplemental workers comp and that was only paid for 1 year. He has now received a w2 reflecting that his workers comp payments were taxable. Everything we understand about workers comp is that the payments are not taxable. I did read that they would be taxable only if they were paid under a private agreement with the company not covered by workers comp statue. I don't know what that means. Was he not eligible to receive workers comp under the VA wc statute when his arm was re-injured? The company claimed they did not have a record of his permanent restrictions. The doctors office had to send them their reports from 2002 again.

[1171]

is the employer self-insured?
generally a comp carrier provides temporary disability not the employer.

if the 12 months of temporary disability was provided by the insurance carrier and the employer provided supplemental benefits then it's likely those supplemental benefits are not workers comp and are taxable.
is there a union contract involved?
the employer should be able to explain the supplemental benefits they paid and how they generated the taxable income figure on his W-2.

aggravations are new injuries. if he filed a new claim then he was entitled to a new period of temporary disability.

[smcguire2001]

(04-10-2011 04:43 PM)1171 Wrote:  is the employer self-insured?
generally a comp carrier provides temporary disability not the employer.

if the 12 months of temporary disability was provided by the insurance carrier and the employer provided supplemental benefits then it's likely those supplemental benefits are not workers comp and are taxable.
is there a union contract involved?
the employer should be able to explain the supplemental benefits they paid and how they generated the taxable income figure on his W-2.

aggravations are new injuries. if he filed a new claim then he was entitled to a new period of temporary disability.

---

Yes there is a Union contract involved. I think you are exactly right. He was told his arm was an old injury and therefore he was only given supplemental workers comp for 1 year. The doctor said it was a reaggravation of his old injury and sent him to physical therapy. He had a new functional capacity evaluation. It was clearly a new injury under the law. He was not given an injury report to complete. He was simply sent to the doctor. He was finally called back to work 14 months later on a job that met his restrictions. I guess since this was Oct. 2009 he is within his 2 year period to file the claim directly with the state of VA. Would this force the company to recognize it as a new injury, thus, make his benefits no longer taxable?

[1171]

whether it was a new injury or not would have to be decided by the comp court.
they would certainly have to open a new file until it was decided.