While most work injuries are usually covered under worker’s compensation, sometimes it might be a bit tough to figure out whether the type of injury you have, or the type of work you’re doing would entail workers’ compensation.
This article will enlist five questions that you may ask yourself when you are confused about whether or not the injury you have will be covered by your employer or not, according to the experience of Regan Zambri Long personal injury lawyers in Washington DC.
- Are you an employee of the company?
While this may seem obvious, it needs to be mentioned. With the different types of jobs that have emerged, this should be clarified. Worker compensation is usually only applicable to “employees”. This means that worker compensation usually does not extend to part-time or contract workers.
To avail compensation, you need to be in a genuine employee-employer relationship with your company, which means that the company needs to have a fixed set of working hours and responsibilities for your position. However, if you are a minor who is under a contract of apprenticeship, then the law does cover that situation.
- Was the injury the result of an accident?
It’s also necessary for the incident to have been an “accident”, which is defined as “by chance or without design”. If you had an active role in not following the required SOPs that you were trained in, then it might slim your chances of getting a workers’ compensation.
However, even if the accident was due to the negligent actions of any other person or as a result of company policies, then it still constitutes a work injury that needs to be compensated.
- Are you suffering from an occupational disease?
It may be possible that you acquire a disease, either acutely or chronically, as a direct or indirect result of the work that you do. There are a lot of substances, such as asbestos and coal dust which can lead to the development of asbestosis and black lung disease respectively.
Even though these aren’t an “accident” per say, they will come under workers’ compensation, since they are the result of the working conditions of the workplace and are a result of exposure in the workplace. If you develop such a disease, then you should definitely go ahead with taking steps to claim workers’ compensation.
- Did the injury occur while actively working?
Lastly, it is also necessary to know whether the injury occurred as a part of the employee’s daily workflow. Even if an employee is walking from one part of the office to another and suffers a slip due to a wet floor, that comes under work injury. Similarly, if one is working with a certain machine as a part of their job and suffers an injury, that can be claimed in workers’ compensation.
If you were off-duty, or suffered an injury near the office site, then more details need to be investigated to find whether it can be covered by workers’ compensation or not.
If all, or most of the conditions are true, then you need to discuss possible compensation with your employer. It’s crucial that you also get in touch with experienced lawyers to have the most chances of getting fair workers compensation.
