No, pursuant to Board Rule 200 (c), “an injured employee who receives regular wages during disability shall not be entitled to weekly benefits for the same period.”
Assuming that an employee has a wage-continuation plan or sick leave policy, the employer should offer the employee the choice to receive either the sick leave OR the workers’ compensation benefits after the employee is injured. In most cases, the wage-continuation plan/sick leave will be equal to the employee’s salary which is usually more than temporary total disability benefits (TTD). Therefore, most employees will elect to receive the wage-continuation benefits over the workers’ compensation benefits (TTD).
It is important for the employee to understand that when the employer offers the employee both types of benefits, the employee must select one in lieu of the other. In other words, they cannot select one now and use the other later. If the employee elects to receive benefits under the wage-continuation plan, the employee will not receive the workers’ compensation benefits and the employer can request a credit for the workers’ compensation benefits. Under the law, employees are offered 400 weeks of workers compensation benefits. When an employee chooses his wage-continuation plan, the employer can obtain a credit pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 34-9-243 which starts the clock ticking for the 400 weeks of workers’ compensation benefits.
Tags: Georgia workers' compensation, indemnity benefits, O.C.G.A § 34-9-, retirement benefits, work related injury, workers' comp benefits, Workers' Compensation Act
