Virginia Worker’s Compensation – The Vocational Rehabilitation Manager

In Virginia Worker’s Compensation cases, the defense has the right to hire a vocational rehabilitation counselor (VCR). The claimed goal of the VCR is to help an employee who is under an Open Award and who has reached his/her maximum medical improvement find new employment. Often an employee who has reached his/her best medial improvement condition is released to work with specific work restrictions which the employer cannot or will not accommodate. The defense will claim that the purpose of the VCR is just to help the employee find a job in Virginia where the employee can work with these specific restrictions.

The hidden goal of the VCR is to help the defense cut off the employee’s benefits. Cutoffs can happened simply because a worker does not attend a regular meeting or fails to follow up on a job lead suggested by the VCR. Meetings are often scheduled on a weekly basis.

A secondary hidden reason for using a VCR is the defense wants to pressure the employee into settling his overall claim. Many VCRs are purposely annoying and purposely persistent so that the working with the VCR becomes an annoyance – to the point that the employee begins to think it would just be easier to settle with the insurance company so I won’t have to meet with the VCR.

Virginia Lawyer Joe Miller Knows Job Counseling and Workers’ Compensation Law