Was Your Pay Deducted After a Work Injury? Seeking Advice on Reimbursement Policies

Dear Seniors, Hi, I am working as an HR Assistant Manager in a reputed construction company. My query pertains to an incident where I met with an accident during duty hours, resulting in a broken left arm. I underwent treatment for about a month and resumed duty in February 2012. Upon checking my payslip, I noticed that 15 days' payment had been deducted by the management. Could you please confirm if there is any provision for reimbursing the Loss of Pay (LOP) days? Please confirm.

Thanks & regards,
Rajesh Kanna

If you have GPA coverage, you can claim the salary for the days lost from the insurance company, along with medical expenses as per the GPA policy.

Dear friend,

You should have been covered under ESIC. If so, ESI should take care of issues like salary during absence from duty after the on-site accident and recovery thereafter. I believe you are in the construction industry, which falls under ESI. You can verify this link for reference: ESI Matters

Kumar S.

Normally, all companies allow the entire accident leave to be considered as on-duty leave if the accident occurred during the course of employment or outside of employment. However, in cases where individuals extend their absence beyond the period recommended by medical practitioners, only the duration advised by doctors is treated as on-duty leave, while the remaining absence is considered as Loss of Pay (LOP).

Policy Considerations

Please ensure that your company has policies regarding on-duty rest and LOP before escalating the matter to your management.

Regards,
S. Sethupathy
Excellent HR Services

If you have a group personal accident policy for employees, you will receive some amount from the insurance company. Alternatively, if your company has an advanced leave policy, then you can adjust the loss of pay (LOP).

Regards

Are you covered under ESI? If yes, then you will receive benefits from ESI. As rightly mentioned by our friend, you can also get benefits from GPA if covered. If both options are not available, and if you are involved in an accident during the course of employment, the management has to sanction leave with pay and also bear the medical expenses.

For example, if an employee is working on a machine and due to a mechanical problem, the machine fails, causing an injury to the employee. If the injury is due to the sheer negligence of the employee, then they are not eligible for any benefits.

In your case, it is important to determine how and why it is part of and in the due course of employment. If you can substantiate or prove this, then you are eligible for benefits. If the management does not accept your claim, the authority to appeal to will be the local Assistant/Deputy Commissioner of Labour.

Regards,
Kamesh