Workers' Compensation

Upon the notification of the accident or illness, the department is required to offer the employee a Workers' Compensation Panel of Physicians.  There is a form for three different cities: Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Roanoke; please review each carefully to see which works best for you.  The supervisor must submit the signed Panel Physician Selection form to the Department of Human Resources via mail, fax, or secure upload. 

The employee is responsible for choosing a physician from the approved panel physician list. Your supervisor will give you a Panel Physician Selection Form from which you will select a physician. Even if they do not anticipate seeing a physician for your injury you must select a physician from the list in the event you do seek medical treatment. You must keep all appointments with this physician and follow the prescribed treatment plan. If you are first treated in an emergency room or by a physician, not on the worker’s compensation panel, follow-up treatment must be with a worker’s compensation panel physician. Appointments for medical care, therapy, etc. should be made in consideration of work hours if possible. It is the employee's responsibility to abide by any restrictions imposed by your Panel Physician. 

The supervisor is responsible for conducting an investigation of the injury/illness.  Contact the Saftey Office at ext. 7786 if you need assistance or advice regarding your investigation.

NOTE: if the injury involved a trip, slip, or fall, contact the Saftey Office and request a photograph of the accident site.  They may ask to see exactly where the accident occurred.  

The Supervisor Incident Report | PDF should be completed to assist with investigating an incident. 

Additional Witness Statement | PDF

For Full-Time Employees

If you miss time from work due to your injury/illness, it may be charged to worker’s compensation leave only after the injury/illness is accepted as compensable. Until a compensability decision is made, the time missed may be charged to your available leave balances. If you do not have sufficient leave balances to cover your absences, you will be placed on leave without pay (LWOP).

For Wage Employees

Any time missed from work due to your injury/illness must be documented by a doctor’s excuse. Time missed that is not covered by a doctor’s excuse will be considered leave without pay. If you are excused from work by your Panel Physician you must immediately notify your supervisor by telephone or other means and present the doctor’s excuses for time missed to your supervisor immediately upon return to work. Excuses for time missed are normally issued by the physician when the determination is made that you are unable to work. Ensure you get the excuse at that time.

The decision on whether or not your injury is compensable is made by Managed Care Innovations (MCI), the Commonwealth's worker’s compensation carrier, not Radford University. The decision is usually made within 4 - 6 weeks of the date the injury is reported. If you are sent a questionnaire, letter, or receive a phone call from MCI asking for specific information relating to your injury/illness, a compensability decision will not be made and no action taken on your case until you respond. If your claim is denied, MCI will send you a letter stating the reason for the denial. If your claim is denied and you are covered by a state health insurance plan, MCI will pay for the initial visit to the panel physician. You or your insurance company will be responsible for any medical bills, prescriptions, etc. incurred after the initial visit. If you are not covered by a state health insurance plan, you will be responsible for all medical bills, prescriptions, etc. related to the denied claim.

If your claim is accepted, you will be notified by MCI. That information is also extracted from a monthly report received by the Department of Human Resources from MCI which lists compensability decisions for the previous month.

Pending a compensability decision by MCI, time missed must be charged to available leave balances or to Leave Without Pay (LWOP). All-time missed from work must be documented by a doctor’s excuse. You are required to provide any original medical work excuses to your supervisor as soon as possible after receiving the excuse. It is very important to maintain communications with your supervisor, therefore it is extremely important that you or a family member contact your supervisor if you are unable to deliver the doctor’s excuse on the same date you receive it. Please note that the university is not required to accept after-the-fact work excuses for missed time.

All-time missed due to a subsequently approved injury/illness may be charged to Workers’ Compensation Leave (WC) and personal leave balances restored. After you have missed 5 workdays or it is apparent that you will miss more than 5 workdays, the Department of Human Resources will submit a supplementary report to MCI advising them of your status. After the claim is accepted, MCI will use the supplemental report to determine whether the missed time is compensable.

When you are released to return to work from an injury/illness, you must present a return-to-work slip from your panel physician listing any limitations. If your supervisor can accommodate your limitations/restrictions, you will be returned to duty consistent with your limitations. If you cannot perform your normal duties due to limitations, you may be able to perform duties outside your normal job classification for up to 90 calendar days.

If there is lost time from work the worker’s compensation laws of the Commonwealth require your salary be paid in the following manner:

Virginia Sickness and Disability Program (VSDP) Procedures

• You must use available leave balances or be on leave without pay if no leave balances are available, to cover the seven calendar day waiting period. If you miss 21 days, and the work-related injury/illness is accepted as compensable, 2/3 of the leave used to cover the seven calendar day waiting period may be restored.
• You should contact Reed Group at 1-877-928-7021 (the third party administrator for the VSDP) to report your injury/illness for consideration under short-term disability.
• If approved for short-term disability (up to 125 workdays), you will continue to be paid the appropriate payment from the University.
• After you have missed 90 consecutive calendar days, you will cease to earn annual leave.
• If approved for long-term disability (begins on the 181st calendar day after the injury/illness), you will be paid the appropriate amount directly from MCI or Reed Group.

Traditional Sick Leave and Virginia Retirement System (VRS) Disability Retirement Plan Procedures

• After you have missed 90 consecutive workdays, you will cease to earn leave.
• Radford University will continue to pay your salary for the first 92 cumulative calendar days. A cumulative calendar day is counted as any full day or portion of a day missed. If, after 92 cumulative calendar days of worker’s compensation leave, you are unable to return to work, one-third of all time missed (2.7 hours each day) will be charged to your remaining leave balances. As long as you remain on paid leave, Radford University will continue to pay your salary on the semi-monthly payroll schedule.
• When all leave is exhausted, you will be placed on leave without pay, and two-thirds of your average weekly wage will be paid to you directly by MCI.

For Wage Employees

If you miss time from work due to your injury/illness, the time missed will be charged against worker’s compensation leave after the compensability decision is made. Until a compensability decision is made, you will be on leave without pay. Any payments for approved missed/lost time will be paid directly to you by MCI and not Radford University. According to the worker’s compensation laws of Virginia, you will not be paid for the first 7 calendar days of lost time until you have missed 21 days. On the 8th day of absence, you will be paid two-thirds of your average weekly wage. Again, this is not paid until a compensability decision has been made by MCI. Upon notification of compensability, the time missed without pay will be chargeable to worker’s compensation and you will be paid directly by MCI for two-thirds of your average weekly wage for the time missed. You will also begin receiving two-thirds of your average weekly wage directly from MCI for any future absences covered by a doctor’s excuse.

When the employee is released to return to work from an injury/illness, they must present a return-to-work slip from their panel physician stating any limitations. If the supervisor can accommodate your limitations/restrictions, they will be returned to duty consistent with their limitations. If they cannot perform their normal duties due to limitations, the employee may be able to perform duties outside your normal job classification for up to 90 days.

• Physical Demands Form | PDF
• WC Time Missed/Return to Work Form  | PDF

For approved Workers' Compensation claims, injured employees will be reimbursed for prescription costs. Employees should use a pharmacy card for all valid Workers' Compensation related prescriptions. Locate a participating pharmacy. 

Employees should submit to Human Resources a Request for Prescription Drug Reimbursement | PDF and include all receipts. 

Reimbursement for mileage to and from a treating physician is also provided. If you seek reimbursement for mileage, you must complete a Worker’s Compensation Request for Mileage Reimbursement form and return it to your supervisor or to the Department of Human Resources. 

• Department of Human Resources.Request for Mileage Reimbursement | PDF

Physicians participating in the RU Physicians Panel are aware they are to bill the university for services provided for work-related injuries/illnesses. At times, however, you may be billed directly. If this happens, the bill(s) should be forwarded to your supervisor or to the Department of Human Resources who will, in turn, send the bill(s) to MCI. You should also contact the billing physician to remind him/her that services are for work-related injury/illness and should be forwarded to our office for transmittal to MCI.