Why Does Worker's Comp Pay For Idiocy?

riley40

My office guy... OFFICE guy... got hurt at work.

His job description is to be a desk jockey (he enters receipts on quickbooks, coordinates materials to be on sites, answers the phone, etc.)

The other day he was alone in the office and accidentally locked himself out. I was on my way to the office. It was Thursday and I do payroll every Thursday so he knew I was going to be there. You'd think he'd call me, tell me what's going on, and go get himself a cup of coffee until I got there. No, that would have been reasonable.

What does he do? He makes like Spiderman and decides to get up on a chair with the intention of climbing over a wall (12' high) removing the ceiling panel and getting back into the office.

Spidey wasn't that good at climbing the wall... he made it to the other side and promptly fell, landed on his feet... and broke his heel in 3 places.

I feel bad for the guy... mostly because the guys that are on the job sites and actually have dangerous work have taken to calling him Spidey as well.

He wants me to file a Worker's Comp claim. Now, my company is in Illinois and, thanks to our generous legislature, I pay double in Worker's Comp insurance than my neighbors in Indiana. If I file the claim, I lose the discount my broker got me... which is beaucoup $$$$.

I called the broker thinking he'd laugh too and tell me something logical like "worker's comp only covers work-related accidents that are within the scope of work".... nope. He tells me ... in between chuckles... that ANYTHING these characters do on the job is covered. UNBELIEVABLE. The only thing that may be rejected is a claim for an accident that occured while the worker was intoxicated or under the influence of drugs... which is why I tell them they have to give a urine sample for a drug test if the want to go to the ER on my dime.

So now my options are to pay Spidey's medical bills off the books or risk losing my discount on the WC insurance. It would be more cost-effective if I paid his med bills.

I was shocked to learn how loose the WC parameters were. And I think they're stupid, so there.

MALCO.New.York

You need a real good sit down with this IDIOT and explain to him the facts of YOUR BUSINESS.

If he does not respond properly and you can not convince him that it was ENTIRELY his fault, sue his arse! Either way, get rid of him.

The action that he committed was NOT in his job description not was it a task that you delegated to him.

His choice. His consequences. His dime.

__________________
Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cnizLDEE

riley40

>The action that he committed was NOT in his job description not was it a task that you delegated to him.

>His choice. His consequences. His dime.

Oh trust me, I completely agree. And he agrees that it was his mistake... but he's got a $5000 deductible on his insurance policy and knows that WC will cover it.

I feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place here. Legally, we're on the hook for this via our WC insurance.

MALCO.New.York

Got Legal Counsel on retainer???? Have a sit down. Scare this little fooker!

__________________
Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cnizLDEE

riley40

Yep, I have already sent the email to the lawyer to discuss options.

It just burns my toast because it was totally HIS bonehead move... nothing to do with the business!

MALCO.New.York

If your Lawyer is worth a dime, he will convince this JO to deal with his own crap on his own dime.

It may be time to play hardball in order to save your W/C status.

__________________
Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cnizLDEE

MattCoops

Too bad you weren't there to yell "you're fired" before he hit the ground.

__________________
Matt with Cupan Custom Tile & Paint of Lowell, Massachusetts
Design and installation of ceramic tile and natural stone for floor, wall, and countertops
(978) 601-8774 | cupantile@gmail.com | view tile pictures and more

Brock

Did you train him in climbing?
Did you instruct him to climb when you hired him?
Did you tell him to climb if he was locked out?
Nope. Well it's your fault anyway because you own this huge conglomerate construction company. You have to pay all his bills.

Once he is healed up though take him on a three hour drive into the forest and tie him up to a tree and rub him down with fish oils. Leave him there for a couple days. (you can hook up a water I.V. if you want to his mouth but that is optional) When you come back and untie him tell him he gets to keep his job but he has to pay you back in weekly instalments.

Note; Only a suggestion. I would never do anything like this to anyone.

MALCO.New.York

That is the approach that I am suggesting. Only a little more physically subtle with the emphasis on mental.



As the line was once said so simply said....................

+ YouTube Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4KRDVsSsKE








And with this, I am serious.

__________________
Something to One may be Nothing to another!

Ultimate Wisdom---------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-cnizLDEE

nap

it's really great that MALCO and Brock are suggesting taking ILLEGAL actions that would end up costing riley much more in defending the lawsuit that followed than just paying for the injury.
You cannot make him pay for something that is covered under WC and threatening to do so is illegal as well.

Even firing him because he claims it under WC is going to get riley in big trouble. Retaliatory actions due to an employee making a WC claim is not taken lightly by the government.

Brock

No not suggesting, and I don't want anyone to think that I ever had or ever would do something like that to another human. We don't have forests in the midwest. I just mentioned it as an idea. Revenge is never a good thing. (if caught of course)

riley40

*SIGH*.... I know.

But this is just so .... BLATANTLY A STUPID, BONEHEAD, SELF-INDUCED, .... awww, hell. You all know what it is.

But it makes me angry enough to want to take on the WC laws in Illinois just for the principle.

riley40

Spidey just walked into my office and asked how my husband - the other owner of the company - is taking it.

I told him that he feels like he's being extorted. We either pay the med bills or file the claim - which screws us either way.

He offered to share the document he got from Illinois stating the WC law! AS IF that makes a difference.

I told him that we are aware of the law... and it's still extortion so, no, he's not at all happy at the moment.

I'm surprised that he expected anything different.

Mike Finley

Stop the whining. He's an employee, he got hurt while working for you. Case closed.

I'd rather have a guy working for me that was a doer, a problem solver then to find him sitting on the front steps smoking all day because he was locked out.

Is he an idiot? Who knows, it was an accident. I guess if somebody gets hurt on the construction site you're also supposed to make a determination of the injury and apply your standards to it such as? WTF don't you know a saw blade is sharp??

Stop the whining, you sound like a moron. What do you think, WC is only for a construction crew? You think IBM or Microsoft don't have WC?

"EXTORTION" give me a break.

SelfContract

riley40, how many years does Mr. Spiderman has worked for you since?... Any other problems with him before we don't know yet?

riley40

He's worked for us for less than 3 months.

And regarding the previous poster, I think this guy has lousy judgement. And now I think that going forward he will have lousy judgement. I don't trust him.

He got hurt playing Spiderman which is so far removed from ANY job description and expected activity, that it's blatantly stupid so your comparison to someone getting hurt using a tool on a job site is a bit off.

And yes, I'm whining because I'm going to get hit with the jacked-up cost of WC - in the form of me losing my discount - because of his bad decision.

And if you don't like my whining, scroll.

Mike Finley

Who hired him?

His bad decision or yours for hiring him?

I actually do feel sorry for you losing your discount, but keep some perspective on business. Most of us need to get out of the thought process of insurance is just a bill to pay and something not to be used. That's what puts us in this type of mind F&&K where we think the discounted price is the normal price. The normal price is the normal price, the discounted price was a perk, it wasn't something that could never change.

You're in business, you made a business decision to hire the guy, you now regret it and are paying a small consequence as a result. Things could be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay worse.

Keep this all in perspective.

He is covered by WC.
He does deserve to be covered by WC.
He does deserve a payout by WC.

Any of this that you don't agree with is in your head and causing your own torment.

I hope there is a lot more to why you think that then the guy trying to climb over a wall.

Unfortunately, now things are going to be a bit stickier especially if you are lax in your administrative and human resource systems. To get rid of him you should think about starting a formal paper trail, starting with reviews, setting goals and you recording his failures to meet them before you fire him. Either that or just roll the dice and boot him and see how it plays out.

That's all in your head too.

#1 If you work on a job site you will know how many close calls a day there are where fate could change a non-incident into an incident. A split second, a millionth of a degree is all the separates an accident and stitches from just another nail shot in a board @ 9;16 AM on a Tuesday.

#2 WC is to protect an employee in your employ. Get it out of your head there is any judgment call on your behalf.

Let us know what your attorney says. I'm going to be very shocked if the laws in your state are going to be so cut and dry your lawyer doesn't tell you "You might be able to fight it, but you might still end up paying and paying the costs to fight it too."

I stopped worrying about stuff like this a long time ago. Insurance is there for a purpose, it isn't just an irritating bill to pay, a fee to be in business.

And now you need to post a sign that says do not climb over walls if locked out!

riley40

Mike,

You are right. On all counts. But it's a big hit, financially so it's a sore point right now.

No, I'm not going to fire him because I don't need the lawsuit. But working with him is going to be difficult at best.

I called my state's WC hotline and they told me that it's up to the ins co if they choose to cover or not - but I have to file a claim to find that out so it's a catch-22.

Years ago, I remember a case where Kumatsu was sued because some Einstein decided to bungee jump off one of their cranes and got hurt. He smacked the bottom of the crane on the way up.

Now there are signs on cranes that say "No Bungee Jumping"...

We live in a crazy world.

nap

I don't know how that ended up but obviously that was an "extracurricular activity" and had nothing to do with work unless he was an incident investigator and was really into the hands on thing. In your situation, he was actually trying to continue with his work and (not so wisely) figured he could access his office and continue on with his work.

Think about it;

he could have waited and provided no benefit to your company and still collected pay or;

he could have found a method to return to work and be a benefit to your company.

granted, the thought process took a sharp left turn somewhere but he was at least trying to do his job. Don't forget that many many of the discoveries that have improved our lives were due to accidents or accidental discoveries. Sometimes those risk takers are the ones the take the world forward in leaps rather than steps.

or;

he could simply be an idiot.

Mike Finley

I kind of lean the same way as nap on this one in regard to the guy. On the one hand I hate to deter problem solving, of course when it goes wrong, you are left with the predicament you are in now.

Riley,

I don't know how long you have been at this, it kind of sounds like you're somewhat new to this.

A couple of things to keep in mind, are look at the big picture, and always run your company like a big company no matter what size you are right now.

I get the idea you're newer at this because you are focused so much on this discounted rate you have, which is a newbie mentality of that rate was yours forever. With enough time in business you start to look at things in terms of averages. Just think of that low rate as a great thing it was to offset the higher rates you are sure to have over the next 20 years of being in business. Over the next 20 years you will have even higher rates then you will have after this incident and you will have lower ones too. That's the way it and you have to start accepting that as soon as you make the decision to grow your business beyond what can be accomplished by yourself in a day, the change to delegating duties to others and making the leap to employees brings on a whole new measuring stick. You have to start measuring things on a curve.