Q: My employer told me that i had to come back to work or they would give my job away. i did and now my back is worse.
Im a nurse and i hurt my back on Oct 13th lifting a patient off the floor at work. After missing only 2 days of work my boss called me and told me that if i wasent going to be able to return to work by friday (would have only missed 3 days at that point) that she would have to find someone else to replace the shift i work. I came back on the day that she said i needed to come back and i have been working the past week. Now my back is hurting worse. Im afraid that if i go back to the MD and miss more work that im going to be "replaced". Also, is work comp going to cover me now that i have went back to work? One more thing, about 2 years ago i went to my MD because my back was hurting(not work related, was not even an injury, it just started hurting for no reason) so now im worried that work comp will not cover me because i had a previous issue with my back. My back has not hurt at all since that time until i hurt it at work on oct 13th.
A: If you had an accident at work in Illinois you may have a compensable case. If your doctor held you off work and you brought that "off work" slip or "restricted duty" slip to work which states you could only do limited work duties or none, then the employer is in the wrong. You should contact an employer right away to discuss your rights. You may be entitled to TTD (payments if you have to be off work) at 2/3 your pay, medical treatment, and permanency for the loss of the use of your back, among other possible benefits. Even if you did have a previous back injury it is possible that if you aggravated it, the case may be compensable. In the future do not list so much detail online because the other side can find it and it could become admissible in a case.
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