What can we do if an employee has an active workers’ compensation claim and is taking some time off for doctor’s appointments/therapy, but their absences have increased without medical certification?

Workers’ compensation claims can create complex employee management issues. Despite a lot of employer confusion around the protections of workers’ compensation claims, workers’ compensation does not provide job-protected leaves of absences.

Oftentimes, employees will need time off related to a workplace injury. Sometimes it will be intermittent leave to attend doctor’s appointments and treatment sessions, or sometimes they will need whole blocks of time that may extend months to years.

In all cases of leave requests, whether the injury was work related or not, the employer’s approach should be the same. The employer should evaluate whether the employee is