The Department of Labor has ruled that a workers’
compensation insurance carrier has no obligation to pay wages to an employee when
that employee misses work to attend a medical appointment for treatment of a work injury. Hathaway
v. Griswold, Op. No. 04-14WC (March 17, 2014). The Act states that, “an employer shall not withhold
wages from an employee for an employee’s absence from work for treatment of a
work injury, or to attend a medical examination related to a work injury.” 21
V.S.A. § 640(c). The Department has
concluded that the term “employer” in this context does not include the
insurance carrier as the statute confers on the carrier an obligation to pay “compensation,”
or “benefits” and those terms are not synonymous with “wages”. Hathaway v. Griswold, Op. No. 04-14WC (March
17, 2014).
The Department has mandated that the current employer of a
worker who has suffered a work injury not withhold the employee’s wages while attending
a medical appointment for treatment of a work related injury. Hathaway v. Griswold, Op. No. 04-14WC (March 17, 2014). This is true whether the worker was injured at the current place
of work, or at an earlier workplace. The
Department found a distinction in the Act between the use of the term “an
employer” versus the term “the employer” concluding that the, “indefinite
article “a” connotes a more general reference.” Hathaway v. Griswold, Op. No. 04-14WC (March 17, 2014); See, e.g., State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Old Republic Insurance Co., 644 N.W. 2d 715,718 n.5 (Mich. 2002). The Commissioner concluded the specific language
was a choice by the Legislature of an intent to broaden the prohibition against
wage withholding to encompass not only the employer where the injury occurred
but any future employer. Hathaway v.
Griswold, Op. No. 04-14WC (March 17, 2014).
