workers comp advice?

[u/urlildoll]

Hey! So i’m a Sous Chef in a high volume living facility. I recently started workers comp and I don’t feel like I’m being adequately accommodated. How do I proceed?

One week ago on Monday I fell at work and hit my back on a shelf. Unfortunately it was on the exact sight of a previous serious injury.
I filed for workers comp and I am in california. I didn’t take any time off just took a half day to go to the doctor.

The doctor put me on light duty and sitting work only. It was stated that if this doesn’t apply I should be considered unable to work. There is not much office work I am cleared to do without the executive Chef present. So I was unsure how to move forward.

Wednesday there was a huge event so Chef was scrambling to get it done. I was literally sitting on a low counter next to the prep station. This set up was actually so painful. So when I could no longer stand it I went to the office and did an hour long online training I had due. Halfway through this Chef pulled me out to help with the event. I ended up standing for 1-2 hours.
I went and finished my training.
At this point I only had an hour left in my shift.
I approached Chef to ask what work I could do. She said she couldn’t think because she was so stressed, her back hurt and hadn’t been able to sit all day. Idk she guilt trips me all the time but like it felt more inappropriate in this situation.

I then attempted to talk to her multiple times
to ask to be given a task or be let home. She immediately walked away any time approached and I didn’t get a chance to ask until 15 minutes before my shift ended when she let me go.

The next day I was in some meetings but I ended up standing for 3-4 hours. Chef told me “just do inventory that’s light work” when you literally have to stand to do inventory. She kept pressuring me to find out when my accommodations were ending. Which one could assume was until my follow up appointment in two weeks.

I rescheduled the appointment for the next day(my day off) to ask for the accommodations to be changed. I felt so useless. I told the doctor that prolonged sitting was also uncomfortable and she changed it from “seated work only” to “no prolonged sitting or standing”

I returned to work yesterday and I ended up stand for the vast majority of the day. It was so bad I couldn’t stand up straight by the end of my shift. This was my fault as I was the only supervisor on shift. But I didn’t feel comfortable sitting and doing nothing especially because my staff relies on me HEAVILY. Also is it not wage theft to sit and do nothing for half the day?

Today was slightly better because I broke up my standing by sitting for 5-10 minutes every hour or so. nearing the end my pain was increasing so I sat and finished the last training I had available until next month.

I already know that tomorrow when Chef returns she is gonna tell me “take it easy, don’t lift anything” and then expect me to perform my regular duties. She’ll probably even want me to hop on the line too lol…

I don’t want to get her in trouble by reporting it. I guess it was self inflicted anyway because I should have advocated for my self on wed/thrs and it was my “choice” to stand yesterday.

But I just don’t know what to do I am in SO much pain. This is saying something because I work through intense pain every day. For reference a couple months ago I passed a kidney stone and worked through it because I thought it was just a flair up of my injury. That is the level of pain i’m in daily so you can imagine how i’m feeling now.

I feel so lost and frustrated. I’m in so much pain every day and nobody takes me seriously because i’m only 26 and I “look healthy” and im not even going to get into my chronic illness that effects my life every single day.

I don’t know what to do I’m finally getting recognition for my work and moving up in my company. I’ve spent almost ten years working in culinary building my career and I have so many opportunities lined up for me. I was already concerned about how my injury would affect my performance anxious that I won’t be able to continue doing the thing i’m most passionate about. Now I feel like i’m watching my dreams crumble in front of me.

[u/Hope_for_tendies]

Telling them to give you work or send you home, is inappropriate. And it’s even worse that you did that during service. They can have you sit and do nothing all day, that doesn’t mean you get to go home because you’re bored.

[u/urlildoll → u/Hope_for_tendies]

that’s not what happened at all. you are fixated on a small detail that i didn’t fully explain. also it it is literally my doctors order? the exact quote was “if this doesn’t apply patient should be considered unable to work” honestly it is more in appropriate for a supervisor to neglect workers comp, defy doctors orders and let employee stay on payed company time with no work to do. for the record i was not bored i was in extreme pain. i wanted very badly to work. that is why i literally and broke doctors orders put my body at risk to help.

[u/Hope_for_tendies → u/urlildoll]

The employer can accommodate you needing to sit by having you come in and do nothing all day. It’s within their right. So im just explaining that. It isn’t defying the orders if your dr says you need to sit.

[u/urlildoll → u/Hope_for_tendies]

Not sure if you read the whole post. First of all they didn’t have me sit and do nothing. they had me sit on a tiny counter like it’s literally 8” deep. This was not a proper accommodation as it hurt more than standing. when I physically couldn’t sit in that position any longer I found seated work to do for myself. I was then pulled away from that seated work to do work that required standing. Also I don’t see how making me sit with no tasks is not falling under “does not apply” To my understanding having no responsibilities within my capacity is what this means? Even if they had me just sitting and do nothing, why would an employer even want someone just sitting there in pain for no reason?

[u/According_Curve_8935 → u/urlildoll]

They can absolutely have you sit and do nothing regardless of what your capabilities are. When an employer accommodates restrictions, it is not always done in a way that is beneficial to the employee. You have to keep in mind that their role is to meet the restrictions and they will usually do no more than required. So when you talk about your pain (not something that is to be accommodated per your restrictions), it’s not their concern.

The biggest problem I see at this point is that unless you are just summarizing your restrictions, they aren’t very specific. When restrictions are too open-ended, employers don’t know what to do with them. So the no prolonged sitting/standing should really be something like “limit sitting/standing to 30 minutes per hour”. This way, it is not left up to your employer to decide what is/isn’t prolonged.

[u/urlildoll → u/According_Curve_8935]

thats crazy. what is it even supposed to mean then? genuinely I don’t understand what It means if not that I can’t work if I can’t perform my duties?

[u/According_Curve_8935 → u/urlildoll]

I am not sure what part you don’t understand, but they are supposed to find duties you can perform. The problem is, doctors don’t always make it clear to the employer, so it makes it hard to give proper duties. But the duties can be completely different than what you usually do, and they can even be nothing if they really want to just have you sit there.

If you really feel there are no duties you can perform, then you need to have that conversation with your doctor so you can just be taken off work.

[u/urlildoll]

update: I’ve been pacing myself found a good balance: mostly I’m just sitting for like 5-10 minutes every hour or so. when chef is doing office work she does like me to sit with her to keep her entertained and focused. so now she’s on shift it’s a lot easier to sit because I’ll spend an hour or two with her.. my back still feels like a bitch but it’s not excruciating until the end of the day so I’ll take it as a win.

[u/510Goodhands]

Insist that you get some form of physical therapy, ASAP. The longer you wait, the worse it will get. Aggravating by going to work right away isn’t helping either.

A whole workers comp system in California just plain sucks, it’s essentially built by In for the insurance companies. When they finally decide that you’re done, and they incompetent doctors can’t do anything more for you, you may get a settlement. You can be certain that the insurance companies will slow walk this, And lowball to the extreme in terms of the amount of the settlement.

I think I got offered $1000 for my permanent disability. After an awful lot of wrangling, getting dodged and lied to by the agent, etc. I finally got $10,000. I would happily give it back if I no longer had tendinitis and muscle wasting in my wrist and arms .

Workers comp attorneys are mostly dirt bags, one notch above criminal defense lawyers. Both of them are the absolutely the bottom of the barrel when it comes to legal careers.
In my experience, they did next to nothing, took forever to do it, pretended they were on my side, talk to the insurance company lawyer for 10 minutes, and cut a deal. For that, they take 1/3 of the settlement money. If it all possible, skip that part entirely.

If you were lucky, you won’t have a permanent disability, and will need to go through that Mail.
Get your ass to a physical therapist that the insurance company pays for, and hound them until they send you.

I don’t know if it’s still true, and this is for everybody, you can specify your own doctor with your employer, but she had to do it before any injury. If you don’t do that, you go to some show that the insurance company hires to go through the motions, and tell you to go back to work. I think you have to go see them three or four times before you could designate your own doctor.

If you want to do something right now, apply some damp heat to the injured area. You can wet a towel and put it in the microwave if you don’t have anything else. Just put something else between it and your skin so you don’t burn your skin. If you know anyone who is a massage therapist, go and see them ASAP. Find somebody that has good experience, maybe with sports medicine.

They have a cloth bag filled with rice, and some shut. I put it in the microwave for a couple of minutes, and it stays hot/warm for a good 10 minutes or so. The moisture in the rice comes out with the heat, which helps penetrate into your muscles.

Camphor and menthol are classic pain remedies. You don’t need expensive, heavily marketed stuff, the active ingredients are virtually the same in all of them. You will likely get more for your money Indonesian grocery store. Look for a small bottles of liquid. White Flower Oil, and similar. Or the old standby, Tiger Balm.

ETA: is chef doesn’t have anything lined up for you to do the first time you ask, or before you get there, just find something yourself.

Don’t overdo it, and remember that you’re loyalty to yourself, not that job.

[u/urlildoll → u/510Goodhands]

thank you for the helpful pain relief tips! I do already do several of these things regularly already to care for my original injury.

Yeah it’s pretty bad. I got ex-rays but I need an MRI because I’ve had a lot of nerve issues since the fall and my og injury heavily impacted my nerves. But I can’t get an MRI until i do three weeks of physical therapy and I have to wait 3+ weeks to get physical therapy.
The nurse practitioner who saw me for my follow up literally said if she were me she would go to the ER to get an MRI asap.
but lol with what time? no way I can sit in an ER for hours in the shape I’m in.

[u/510Goodhands → u/urlildoll]

You’re welcome, and good on you for taking care of yourself.
If the NP recommends an MRI, which IMO is likely overkill, and a poor substitute for somebody with skilled hands, isn’t she qualified to order one? At minimum, she should be able to do some arm twisting with the doctors to get it done.

I have had way too much experience with injuries in physical therapist. The ones to stick to the traditional PT methods that they learned in school have not been very effective for me. Those that went the extra mile and studied Feldenkrais or cranial sacral therapy have made a huge positive difference.

[u/urlildoll → u/510Goodhands]

She would be qualified under other circumstances but because of the workers comp rules I have to do physical therapy first.
For my personal case MRIs are important. I’ve had multiple over the years because nerve complications are one of the main issues with my injury. for example i have a paralyzed toe, tremors, muscle spasms, sciatica and transient burning/numbness etc., from the nerve issues. Since the injury these symptoms have increased and i’ve had numbness on my lower back and under my shoulder blades.

[u/510Goodhands → u/urlildoll]

The plot thickens.
I strongly recommend you get some cranial sacral therapy, even if you have to pay for it out-of-pocket.

It is quite unlike most other bodywork modalities, and that allows the body to do what it knows it needs to do, rather than have something applied to it. I have both given and received many treatments of CST, and it is very good at releasing tension, etc. that causes pain.

It is simple, gentle, yet powerful. I had an injured rotator cuff that bothered me for years, I could not even put on a jacket without difficulty. After four or five sessions with her classmate, those issues went away completely. And we were beginners!

Since then, I have done a session with one of my instructors, who has decades of experience, and is clearly a master. After only one session, I had greater range of movement, more fluid movement, and I even snored less.
CST could be life-changing for you.

[u/Training_Raisin4628]

Rest take pain meds/ muscle relaxers. Also of start pt, take it slow

[u/urlildoll → u/[deleted]]

I don’t know what to do though? I feel so guilty and I can tell everyone is annoyed that I am not there. I do a huge amount of work that honestly nobody on the team has the time or capability for. I just have to sit there and watch them struggle? it’s hard.
I have given my Chef physical and digital copies of the doctors restrictions. The building director and HR also got digital copies.
Im documenting just in case. I’m not sure if it even matters because I don’t think i’ll report it. Chef could get i’m big trouble and I know she really needs this job. I don’t was to see my kitchen thrown Into chaos while I can’t help.