Facing the risk of unemployment and also a recent work related back injury (slipped disk) I talked to an attorney to sort out the facts and something interesting came up that I thought I would share. If injured during work and reported in a timely manner, the responsible company is required to pay for treatment (usually consisting of physical therapy a few times per week). During this time you most likely are not available for your normal duty schedule and are obviously excused for said therapy. As for compensation, it is generally more cost effective (cheaper) for the company to pay the employee full pay for 4-6 months during therapy, considering you are an FO, than to pay the workers compensation premium to the state. Please re-read the previous sentence.