Every state has workers’ compensation laws as a mergers and acquisitions lawyer can share. They involve requiring employers to purchase insurance to pay potential liabilities or to self-insure in some way. If you’re an employer and fail to meet these obligations, you may be subject to arrest and fines.
What Is Workers’ Compensation Insurance?
Under workers’ compensation laws, with exceptions, if an employee suffers a work-related illness or injury, their treatment is covered, and they receive partial wage replacement. There are also death benefits and compensation for permanent limitations caused by the illness or injury.
Unless it’s an extreme case, fault typically isn’t an issue, so there can be benefits whether or not an employer or employee caused the accident and injury. State laws also prohibit employers from discriminating against employees who seek or obtain workers’ compensation benefits.
There’s an administrative law process (a state workers’ compensation agency or commission decides cases, not judges or juries). But, depending on the issue, those decisions can be appealed to the state court system as our friends at Focus Law LA can share.
Within some limits, the party insuring workers generally controls who treats the employees and how they’re treated. Determining the injury’s extent should be cheaper, simpler, and faster than deciding it through litigation.
Is There A Connection To Personal Injury Lawsuits?
If you look at these laws, you can practically see the political back-and-forth that led to their creation. Employees get these benefits, while properly covered employers typically can’t be sued in a personal injury lawsuit (though they may be subject to one if they don’t buy insurance or self-insure and a worker’s hurt on the job). Unlike personal injury cases, workers’ compensation benefits don’t allow for awards for pain, suffering, mental anguish, or punitive damages.
Situations often lead to a mix of workers’ compensation claims and personal injury lawsuits (but not against the employer). If an employee drives as part of their job and is injured in an accident caused by a third party, they may file for workers’ compensation benefits and sue that other party for negligence to recover more damages than what workers’ comp allows. This can also come in situations where an injury is caused by a defective tool or machine or a negligent subcontractor at the worksite.
How Should An Employer Handle A Workers’ Compensation Claim?
One of the benefits of buying insurance is that you need not create a system from scratch. You instead follow state laws and your insurer’s instructions. Employees should be encouraged to report work-related injuries and illnesses immediately. If they don’t, they may worsen and become more serious, leading to more time away from work and higher benefit costs. Given state laws, those seeking or getting benefits shouldn’t be retaliated against, but if you feel an employee is abusing the system, discuss the situation with your insurer.
If you have questions about workers’ compensation and insurance, talk to an attorney with experience representing businesses like yours.