I’m posting this because people need to understand how workers’ compensation actually works at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, not how it’s described in policy manuals. When you get injured on the job, workers’ comp isn’t treated like a benefit meant to help you recover — it’s treated like leverage.
Payments get delayed or stopped with no clear explanation, and while you’re waiting, bills keep coming. Then your case gets controverted, not because you weren’t hurt or because you did something wrong, but because cutting off your income creates pressure. That pressure is the point.
You’re sent to IMEs where doctors barely examine you and somehow conclude you’re fine, even when your own treating doctors say otherwise, and those IME reports are then used to reduce or suspend benefits. The message is never said directly, but it’s obvious: if you want your money back, come back to work, whether you’re healed or not.
You’re forced to choose between your health and your financial survival. This hits hardest if you’re hourly, living paycheck to paycheck, or supporting a family, because you don’t have the luxury of waiting months to fight it out in court. In practice, the system feels designed to wear injured workers down until they give in.
Workers’ comp is supposed to protect people when they get hurt doing their job, but the way it’s handled here feels more like a tool to financially force people back to work before they’re ready.
BlastMyBoss.com 