The workers’ compensation system is designed to help provide income replacement for employees who have sustained work-related injuries. The system also provides reasonable medical expenses related to the treatment of the work-related injury, ranging from surgery, prescription medication, or medical equipment. In some cases, the worker will be able to return to work quickly or may not even miss work at all. In other cases, the employee may require extended medical care and may not be able to return to work for months, and when he or she does return reasonable accommodations may be necessary for the employee to return to work. If the worker has been permanently disabled but is able to do some work, another type of benefit he or she can apply for is Supplemental Job Displacement Benefits, which come as a voucher. The voucher is a non-transferrable voucher that is for injured employees who want to return to school or obtain additional vocational training. This training or education must be obtained at a state-approved or accredited school.
Injured employees wishing to receive these benefits must meet certain conditions to be eligible. First, the employee must have a permanent partial disability as a result of the work-related injury. The employee also must not have been offered other work by his or her employer. The voucher is worth up to six thousand dollars to go toward the payment of tuition and retraining to start the employee in a new line of work. The voucher is meant to cover expenses such as fees, books, cost of occupational licensing or certification fees, up to one thousand dollars for computer equipment, and up to five hundred dollars for miscellaneous expenses such as transportation and uniforms.
If the employee has paid these types of expenses, he can submit itemized receipts showing payment of these eligible costs to the claims administrator. This must be done before the voucher expires, which is two years after the voucher was issued or five years after the employee sustained a work-related injury, whichever comes later. Alternatively, if you present the voucher to the school or vocational counselor, they may receive payment directly from the claims administrator. Whether you are being reimbursed or the school is receiving payment directly, payment should be complete within forty-five days of the expenses being properly submitted to the claims administrator.
If you have questions about the voucher system and what that means for your business, call us today. We can help you understand the workers’ compensation system.