Document Number:
RISK-0014
Policy Owner:
Risk Management
Revision #:
v1
Status:
Approved

General Description

Policy Summary:

The University subscribes to Workers' Compensation insurance coverage through Travelers Insurance.  

Purpose:

To provide medical treatment and possible compensation for lost time for employees that incur work-related injuries or illnesses.

Scope:

All employees of the University, including student employees, are subject to this Policy.

Exceptions:

None.

Policy Content

If an employee is injured or becomes ill as a result of his/her normal work duties, the following steps should be taken: 
  1. The employee must report any injury/illness, no matter how minor, to the supervisor as soon as possible.  In order for a claim to be filed with the Workers' Compensation carrier, a report must be filed with Health Services.  This should be done immediately as any delay may jeopardize the employee's right to worker's compensation.
  2. The supervisor should send the employee to Health Services for the injury/illness immediately or as soon as possible (extension 8111). Any delay may jeopardize the employee's right to workers' compensation.
  3. The nurse will document the visit in the employee's file and prepare a state report (TWCC-1). The TWCC-1 is forwarded to Risk Management and Insurance and a report of the injury is made to our workers' compensation insurance carrier by Risk Management.  If the employee is referred for off-campus medical treatment and does not agree to go, but decides to at a later date, it should be reported immediately to Risk Management at x8919.
  4. Within 24 hours or first working day after the injury/illness, the employee's supervisor must complete a Supervisor's Report of Employee Injury form.  This form is available for completion electronically and can be accessed through the Department of Environmental Health and Safety web page. Please be sure that no medical records are attached to the Supervisor's Report of Injury form. If you have a needlestick injury or cut that has been contaminated by another person's blood or other potentially infectious material, you must complete a Sharps Injury Log. All medical documents go to the Risk Management Office. 
  5. When seeking off-campus medical service, the employee should not pay or use his/her medical insurance. Instead, provide the contact information for the workers' compensation insurance:
    Traveler's
    P.O. Box 42927
    Houston, TX 77242
     1-800-235-3610 
    A Wallet Card containing this information is included as an Attachment in this policy. The provider may also call the Office of Risk Management for the name, address and telephone number of our workers' compensation insurance carrier. It is the employee's responsibility to verify that the provider is on the First Health/Travelers Workers' Compensation Health Care Network (HCN). The employee may access this list at https://www.talispoint.com/travelers/ext/?lob=wc  or by calling Risk Management at extension 7815 for assistance.
  6. If the employee misses work for 24 hours or longer as a result of the injury/illness, it should be documented and reported to Risk Management immediately. The first seven days of time missed should be charged against the employee's sick leave balance. If not enough sick leave exists, vacation leave should be used, or leave without pay. The employee will automatically be placed on Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
  7. After seven actual days of time missed, the workers' compensation insurance carrier will begin mailing checks to the employee's home to cover approximately 70% of his/her regular salary. If the employee has a leave (SL or VL) balance, payroll will draw just enough from it each day to make up the other approximate 30% of the employee's regular salary.
  8. If an employee is unable to return to work after all sick and vacation leave is exhausted, he/she will be placed in a Leave Without Pay status and will be responsible for paying the university to continue any medical, dental, life, vision, disability insurance, etc. that has been in effect. The employee, however, will still be drawing the 70% of regular salary directly from the insurance carrier.
  9. It is important to remember that through every phase of a workers' compensation case, the employee and his/her supervisor should stay in contact with Risk Management. Risk Management should be provided with the employee's work status reports and any other information that the employee or supervisor has regarding the employee's injury, ability to return to work, etc. Risk Management should be informed immediately when an employee returns to work after an injury (employee must have doctor's release to return to work), is unable to continue working because of a reported injury, or dies as the result of an injury.
To protect your right to Workers' Compensation Coverage you must: 
  • Immediately report the injury to your Supervisor and ask that they complete the Supervisor's Report of Injury.
  • Immediately go to campus Health Services.  If unable to go in person contact Health Services at 210-999-8111.
**Note: In order to access the online version of the Supervisor's Report of Injury you will be asked to sign in using your Tmail Username and Password. If you are signed into any gmail account other than the Tmail account assigned by Trinity University, errors may occur.

Important

As a result of the passage of House Bill 7 by the Texas Legislature, we are pleased to announce that Trinity University joined the First Health/Travelers Workers' Compensation Health Care Network (HCN), effective January 1, 2010. This change applies to Workers' Compensation coverage only, and is not related to Trinity's medical plan with Aetna. 

Through the First Health/Travelers HCN, injured employees have access to a customized, certified, broad network of quality medical providers with expertise in treating work-related injuries. Injured employees will benefit from effective management of the workers' compensation claim throughout the entire process, including medical case management provided by Travelers professional claim and medical staff, located here in Texas. A directory of First Health/Travelers Workers' Compensation Health Care Network providers can also be accessed at https://www.talispoint.com/travelers/ext/?lob=wc or by contacting Risk Management at 210-999-8919.

Performance Evaluation

Consequences of Policy Violation:

Violation of this policy may result in disciplinary action in accordance with university policy.

 

Attachments

Attachments:

Related Documents

Related Content:

First Health/Travelers Workers' Compensation Health Care Network Providers
Environmental Health and Safety Web Page
Supervisor's Report of Injury

Revision Management

Revision History Log:

Revision #:

Date:

Recorded By:
v1 10/7/2024 2:21 PM Jennifer Gilmore Adamo
v3.0 9/14/2022 12:30 PM Gary Logan
v2.0 8/21/2020 10:05 AM Gary Logan
v1.0 8/9/2019 3:51 PM Jennifer Gilmore Adamo

 

Vice President Approval:

Name:

Title:
Gary Logan Vice President for Finance & Administration