Workers’ Comp Pay for Follow-Up Appointments: Employer Guide
Aside from initial treatment, does workers’ compensation cover nonexempt employees’ time off to attend follow-up appointments related to their injury?
Short answer: Missed work time may qualify for temporary disability or partial wage‑replacement benefits when the appointment is injury‑related and cannot reasonably be scheduled outside working hours.
By way of brief background, workers’ compensation is a no-fault insurance benefit that provides two core benefits for employees injured on the job: (1) medical care reasonably necessary to treat the injury; and (2) wage‑replacement benefits when the injury prevents the employee from working. Follow‑up appointments — such as post‑injury evaluations, physical therapy, imaging, or specialist visits — sit at the intersection of these two concepts. They are clearly part of medical treatment, but whether the time spent attending them is “paid,” raises practical wage and hour questions, especially for nonexempt employees who are compensated by the hour.
Nonexempt status matters because these employees are generally paid only for hours actually worked. Unlike salaried exempt employees, there is no obligation to maintain full pay when work is missed, absent a specific legal requirement or employer policy. Workers’ compensation may fill that gap, but only under certain conditions.
As a general rule, workers’ compensation does cover follow‑up medical treatment that is reasonably necessary and related to the work injury. That means the employer or insurance carrier typically pays for the appointment itself. The more nuanced question is whether workers’ compensation also replaces wages for time missed from work to attend those appointments.
Typically, wage‑replacement benefits apply when an employee is unable to work due to the injury or treatment. If a nonexempt employee must miss scheduled work time to attend a medically necessary, follow‑up appointment — particularly one that cannot reasonably be scheduled outside working hours — that absence may qualify for partial disability benefits.
However, workers’ compensation does not typically require employers to pay an employee’s regular hourly wages for brief medical absences. Instead, wage replacement is handled through the workers’ compensation benefit structure, which may include waiting periods, minimum disability thresholds, or medical certification requirements. As a result, short appointments may not trigger indemnity benefits at all, leaving a pay gap.
Employers often address this issue through internal policies. Common approaches include allowing employees to use accrued sick leave or paid time off, offering salary continuation programs, or coordinating paid leave with workers’ compensation benefits. These practices are policy‑driven rather than mandated by workers’ compensation law itself.
Scheduling also plays a critical role. Employers may generally require employees to schedule follow‑up appointments outside working hours when reasonably feasible. If an employee chooses an appointment during work hours when alternatives are available, workers’ compensation coverage for lost time may be limited or denied. Conversely, when provider availability or medical necessity requires appointments during work hours, wage‑replacement benefits are generally allowed.
Finally, wage and hour laws operate in concert with workers’ compensation. For nonexempt employees, time actually worked must be paid, but time spent at medical appointments is not “hours worked” merely because the injury is work‑related. Workers’ compensation provides a separate, limited mechanism for replacing wages, not a guarantee of full pay.
Bottom Line
Workers’ compensation commonly covers follow‑up medical care and may compensate nonexempt employees for time missed to attend necessary appointments, but coverage is not automatic or equivalent to regular wages. Clear documentation, reasonable scheduling, and well‑defined employer policies are essential to managing expectations and minimizing disputes.
This article, slightly modified to note recent updates, was featured online in the Wisconsin Employment Law Letter and published by BLR®—Business & Legal Resources. Reproduced here with the permission of BLR®—Business & Legal Resources.
