Your employer must hold your job while you are on workers’ compensation

Job reservation is the employer’s obligation to hold the position of a worker who is disabled by an occupational case. The CFSE identifies it as Article 5A and frames it under Act No. 45. In practical terms: being on leave by order of the CFSE doctor is not a resignation or an unjustified absence, and your position does not become available to be filled permanently during that period. What the reservation does not do is protect you forever, or protect you if you do not do your part, which is to request reinstatement on time.

The CFSE publishes four conditions, and all of them must be met. First: being disabled and availing yourself of Act No. 45. Second: requesting reinstatement within 15 days after discharge. Third: being able to perform the essential functions of the position. Fourth: that the position still exists at the time you request it. That last one surprises people: if the position was genuinely eliminated — not given to someone else, but eliminated — the reservation does not create a new one. The reservation term is 360 days.

• Being disabled and availing yourself of Act No. 45.Verified against the official source
• Requesting reinstatement within 15 days after medical discharge.Verified against the official source
• Being able to perform the essential functions of the position.Verified against the official source
• That the position still exists at the time you request it.Verified against the official source

• Form CFSE-395, where the doctor recorded the length of the leave and the return date. It is the evidence of your discharge and of the period you were disabled.

1. 1

   Step 1: Give the CFSE-395 to your employer from the first day of leave

   When the doctor puts you on leave, the determination is recorded on Form CFSE-395 with the duration and the return date. The CFSE says to give a copy to the employer as soon as possible. This is not paperwork: it is what turns your absence into leave covered by the system rather than absenteeism, and it is the document that later shows when everything started.

2. 2

   Step 2: Count the 360 days from when the disability begins

   The CFSE sets the reservation term at 360 days. That is the ceiling of the protection: while you are within it and meeting the other conditions, your position must be held. Knowing the date your leave started tells you when that coverage ends, and it is worth writing down rather than trusting to memory.

3. 3

   Step 3: As soon as you are discharged, notify your employer the same day

   This is the decisive step. The CFSE publishes that you must request reinstatement within 15 days after discharge, and its FAQ adds that you have 15 days to return and recommends notifying the employer immediately. Do not leave this to a hallway conversation: ask in a way that leaves a record, in writing or through whatever channel your company uses for personnel matters, and keep a copy.

4. 4

   Step 4: If you are told no, identify which of the four conditions they invoke

   Refusals usually fall under one of the published conditions, and each is answered differently. If they say the position no longer exists, the question is whether it was eliminated or simply filled by someone else. If they say you cannot do the job, that is about essential functions and the CFSE-395 and your doctor are the relevant evidence. If they say time has run out, check the dates: the 360 days and the 15 days are different clocks and are sometimes confused.

5. 5

   Step 5: Take the dispute where it belongs

   If the dispute is about your treatment, your disability or your compensation, that is appealed to the Industrial Commission within 30 days. If the dispute is strictly about your job, the CFSE is not the one that resolves a dismissal: the Department of Labor and Human Resources is the agency that handles labor rights. Before going to either, have the CFSE-395, the discharge date and evidence that you requested reinstatement ready.

Reinstatement is requested from your own employer, not from the CFSE. The CFSE is what documents your disability and your discharge through the CFSE-395. For guidance on the occupational case, the phone number the CFSE publishes for injured workers is 1-855-ELFONDO (1-855-353-6636); for labor rights, the agency is the Department of Labor and Human Resources.

• Assuming the reservation is automatic and that being in the Fondo is enough.
• Letting the 15 days after discharge pass without requesting reinstatement.
• Confusing the 360 days of the reservation with the 15 days to request reinstatement.
• Requesting reinstatement verbally and without recording the date.
• Not giving the employer the copy of the CFSE-395 when the leave starts.
• Taking a dismissal problem to the CFSE, which handles the occupational case but does not resolve labor rights.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Corporación del Fondo del Seguro del Estado (CFSE)

  Fondo del Seguro del Estado

  www.cfse.pr.gov

• CFSE frequently asked questions for injured workers

  CFSE

  www.cfse.pr.gov