Workers Comp Dual Employment – Who Pays What to Injured Worker

Likely due to the pandemic, I have come across quite a few situations lately where an injured employee was working for multiple employers at the time of the industrial accident.  Workers Comp dual employment situations occur more nowadays due to many factors such as the economy.

I am having difficulty thinking of a state that does not require the employer where the employee was injured to pay Workers’ Comp benefits – also for all the other employers.

For privacy, I will not mention the name of the employee, employer, agent, or the jurisdiction state.

Workers Comp Dual Employment Example

I had to explain this very situation to an employer and their agent yesterday.   Let us look at what happened to cause this situation.

1. A compensable injury occurred at a manufacturing plant – lifting overly heavy boxes – lower back strain
2. It was an employer medical choice state – the injured employee was directed to care
3. The treating physician wrote the employee out of work completely for 1 month. No light-duty restrictions including his/her other job.
4. The adjuster was on top of the benefits – avoided a fine – by sending wage statements to the other employer to obtain the wage information.
5. The other two employers returned the wage statements – the compensation rate almost doubled due to the workers comp dual employment.
6. The injured employee was referred to an orthopedic surgeon. Surgery was recommended.
7. The employer responsible for the TTD payments became concerned about #5.
8. The employer contacted their agent. I received a cc: of the inquiry by email from the agent.
9. I received a subsequent email that the employer can offer a job within the injured employees’ restrictions, do they have to pay TTD for his/her other job.  The other employer had heavier lifting requirements.  Yes, the adjuster did investigate if the employee reported any injuries on their other job.

Workers comp dual employment scenarios happen much more in the last 10 years as many workers will take on more than one job (moonlighting) or the worker may hold down two part-time jobs – as in this situation.

Advice Given For This Situation

I had to give them three pieces of advice:

• The adjuster did well to ask for a wage statement from the other employer – avoided possible litigation and fines.
• Worker Comp dual employment TTD is paid by the employer where the injury occurred, not by both employers.
• The employer will still be responsible for TTD on the other job if the employee returns to light duty, which would become TPD.

The workers comp dual employment claim went to a hearing to make sure the amount of weekly benefits was correct.   The injured employee asked for a hearing even though the/she had no attorney.

The Workers Comp Judge said that all was in order as the adjuster avoided a 10% dual employment fine by investigating the claim, finding out that there was another employer, and asking for the wage statement from the other employer.

**TTD > Temporary Total Disability  ***TPD Temporary Partial Disability

This blog post is provided by James Moore, AIC, MBA, ChFC, ARM, and is republished with permission from J&L Risk Management Consultants. Visit the full website at www.cutcompcosts.com.