Q: I work in an office cubicle as a customer-service representative for a large company. I've missed some work lately for reasons way beyond my control: We have had a flea outbreak, and I have repeatedly been bitten by fleas at my desk. A number of my co-workers have also been bitten.
Each time I have had allergic reactions that have meant I've either had to go home, go to a doctor or, and, in one case, to an emergency room when I had a seizure. In every case I have had to clock out, or someone else clocked out for me, to make sure I was not paid for my involuntary down time.
When I requested to be paid for the missed time through workers' compensation, the workers' comp company denied me, stating there was not enough evidence I was bitten at work. In the meantime, my managers have accused me of malingering and made it clear my days are numbered here.
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Is there anything I can do about this situation?
A: There isn't much you can do, though you may have some legal protection if you are fired or demoted, said Mario Romero, a lawyer who specializes in workers' compensation issues.
While he sympathizes with your ordeal, there are several problems you face, he said. For example, under Florida law, to be eligible for wages for time missed, you have to have missed at least one full week of work as a result of a workplace injury or incident, and that does not appear to have happened.
And, since your claim was denied, you would need to go through legal channels to appeal it, a process that's extremely difficult without legal representation. Romero doubts a workers' comp lawyer would take the case, since that state's revised law provides lawyers only a percentage of the benefits received by the workers' comp claimant and, relatively speaking, your benefit claim is minor.
Another legal option would be to file a gross-negligence civil lawsuit against the company, a charge Romero said would be very difficult to prove. But the one thing in your favor, he said, is your having filed the workers' comp claim. That gives you the basis for a retaliation claim if your company takes an adverse action against you.
Bonuses waning
Companywide holiday bonuses are on the wane, largely replaced by end-of-the-year bonuses targeted at top-performing employees, according to an annual holiday survey of more than 300 employers by the consulting company Hewitt Associates.
Nearly two-thirds of the employers that offered across-the-board holiday bonuses in the 1990s have since discontinued the practice, Hewitt found.
This year, just 34 percent of surveyed employers offer companywide bonuses, while 80 percent offer performance-based bonuses that must be re-earned each year.
Among companies that still give traditional bonuses, 39 percent give cash, 37 percent give retail gift certificates, and the rest give food items like hams.