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NO REQUIREMENT FOR EMPLOYERS TO INFORM THEIR EMPLOYEES OF THE POSSIBILITY OF JURISDICTION IN D.C. BEFORE VOLUNTARY PAYMENTS IN ANOTHER STATE WOULD BE CONSIDERED A BAR TO COMPENSATION UNDER THE WORKERS COMPENSATION ACT, Nos. 97-AA-8and 97-AA-557 (D.C. Dec. 30, 1999) D.C. Code 36-303(a-1), which is part of D.C.’s Workers Compensation Act, prohibits an employee from receiving benefits under the WCA if the employee has received "compensation under the workers’ compensation law of any other state for the same injury or death." In this case, the issue was whether this statute can be applied only if the employer gives prior notice to the employee that (1) the employee was being offered compensation under the laws of a State other than D.C., (2) the employee potentially had rights to compensation under the D.C. Act, and (3) that the employee would lose those rights if he accepted the voluntary payments. The D.C. Court of Appeals affirmed the Director’s decision that no such requirements exist. In the two cases consolidated in this appeal, the employees lived outside D.C. and worked for companies located outside the District, but had been injured on the job while working in D.C. In the first case, the worker initially filed for and received an award of 3 months’ TTD from the Maryland Workers’ Compensation Commission, using a form furnished by his employer. The worker subsequently filed a claim in D.C. for ongoing TTD, and withdrew a similar claim he had filed in Maryland. The workers’ acceptance of voluntary payments of 3 months’ TTD under Maryland law barred him from recovering any payments under the D.C. Act. In the second case, the employer reported the injury pursuant to the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Act. Although the employee never filed a claim in New Jersey, he received a check in the mail for a week’s TTD compensation. Because the employee cashed the check, he was later barred from making a claim under D.C. law – even though at the time he had not filed a workers’ compensation claim in any jurisdiction. |
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