Were you working more than one job?

At the time you were injured, did you have more than one job?

You would think most injured workers are able to accurately answer this question, but many struggle because they do not consider their side-hustles jobs. If you’re doing Gig work like Uber or PostMates, then you have a second job. If you’re self-employed doing landscape maintenance on the side, you have a second job. Do not think about it as a primary or secondary job, because workers compensation law does not make those distinctions.

If you were working a second job, it is essential that you tell your claims manager about it ASAP. This is because your time loss rate, the amount you’re paid when you’re unable to work, is based upon your earnings from all employment you had in the year prior to your injury. If you spent a few weeks or many months unable to work any of your jobs, then you’re potentially not getting paid as much as you could.

The other areas where this is important is when you’re starting to recover and you’re trying to get back to work. Maybe you’re able to work one, but not the other job. Maybe one has light duty, but the other does not. Regardless, if you’re not back to your pre-injury wages, you still get partial time loss benefits. Those are calculated by comparing your pre-injury earnings to your current, light duty, wages. But if the state doesn’t know about your second job, then your pre-injury earnings are too low and you’re not being fully compensated for your on-the-job injury.

Finally, you have to be aware of the possibility of being accused of fraud. If you’re working your second job, but getting paid full time loss from your “primary” job’s injury, then you could be wrongfully receiving benefits. This opens you up for a fraud investigation by your claims manager. If you’re found to have acted fraudulently, then you have to pay back the overpaid benefits, plus a 50% penalty, plus you get referred to the local prosecutor for potential felony theft charges!

If you wrongfully received more than $750 in benefits, you may have committed felony theft. For most injured workers, that’s a single time loss check.

If you have questions about your second jobs or anything else about your workers compensation claim, call us or hit the new client link in the upper right hand corner for a free consultation with one of our attorneys.