Legal Question in Workers Comp in Virginia

A lot of people mistakenly think that being injured on the job means that your employer has to keep your job for you. That is not the case as there is no such requirement in the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act. Virginia is an employment at will state and so your employer can let you go at any time, but this will not affect your entitlement to workers' compensation (assuming you are not fired for cause). Unfortunately an injured worker can be receiving workers' compensation benefits but lose their health benefits when the employer lets them go after an injury.

I would only add to what Mr. Sweeny says is that you should review your company's medical leave policy if has a personnel policy. The Federal Medical Leave Act (FMLA) only mandates that an employer keep you on for 90 days and the FMLA only applies to employers with over 50 employees. If you are still under work restrictions (due to your on the job injury), your workers compensation benefits probably will have to be maintained even if you are terminated. However, you may lose health and other benefits if terminated. You can find more information at my website www.virginiadisabilitylawyer.com.