I have a question that some of you posters might be able to help with. My brother works for Whole Foods and recently donated a lot of his vacation time to help a coworker. He was telling me about it and said it's an older woman he really likes who was injured on the job and now needs surgery to repair her spine. Apparently they were all asked to contribute vacation time for her which seems like a very generous act by employees but I asked him why Whole Foods was not paying her salary if all of her medical bills were being paid for by the company. She has received several weeks worth of donations but it seems odd that employees would be asked to donate to cover when she was injured on the job.
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Short term disability only pays a portion of your wages. Those donations are probably to help make up the rest of it.
From what I understand you can get workers comp and still cash out PTO. So maybe the women had two jobs- WC is covering her WFM salary but there is still a deficit that needs covered. Just a thought? Also how PTO donation works is gets gets calculated to the tm salary. So say a $30/hr tl donated 1 hour to a $15/hour tm that would be 2 hours instead of one.
My region Does not allow work injury pay and an employee initiated pto drive at the same time. I wonder of that approval process had changed or if Stls start them now.
Not sure hat region this is but sounds like someone allowed it to happen when they should not have.
checked with my brother...she was injured on the job...taken out by ambulance and it was all reported. all med expenses covered by WC and they have told some employees that the woman is going to be paid as well. so why would they put up a sign asking for donated vacation time?
Something is missing here. Whole Foods does work to eliminate lost wages by creating modified job duties that fit the restrictions listed by the comp approved doctor. If the TM is not able to work, comp insurance kicks in. The only control WFM has in this is to keep TMs working, which is a win/win, or deny the claim, but it is illegal to accept the claim but not pay lost time after a certain amount of missed shifts.
If the woman was injured on the job, reported it by .state mandated deadlines, and did not have the condition prior it would be covered under the work injury plan or the states workmans comp. donations for vacation hours are initiated by the employee and posted by the company to move the hours, based on her written request...but the company is not asking for the hours instead or paying work injury. All but a few states have state mandated workman’s comp where those decisions are not the employers but a government entity.. in the very few that don’t have state workman’s comp, the injury really just had to be reported on the same day or if a Repetitive motion disorder within a reasonable amount of time... and with either no medical history of the disorder or report immediately following seeing a doctor. For the first time.