What Injures are Covered Under Workers’ Compensation?
Posted on Friday, March 14th, 2014 at 2:04 pm
Workers’ Comp Also Covers Work Related Injuries Such As Injuries Due To Repeated Motions, Psychological Stress, and More
To be covered by workers’ compensation, an injury need not be caused by a sudden accident such a fall. Workers’ compensation may also cover claims for injuries due to repeated physical motion like a straining your back from lifting heavy boxes or from the repetitive motions of driving a bus for a long period of time. Also, workers can sometimes be compensated for the effects of psychological stress caused by the job in addition to any physical injuries.
Injuries Must Occur During Work and While You Are In the Course of Employment
With a few exceptions, any injury that occurs in connection with work is covered. The legal boundary is that employees are protected by workers’ comp as long as the injury happened “in the course of employment.” For example, a traveling nurse would be covered by workers’ comp while making service calls to patients and when visiting patient’s homes, but not while traveling to and from work for the day or while traveling to a purely social dinner later that evening.
No Fault Injuries
From the employee’s standpoint, workers’ comp is a no-fault system. It does not matter whether a worker was careless when injured, although claims made by employees who hurt themselves while drunk or fighting have traditionally been rejected as outside the bounds of “work-related activity.”
Injuries that can be shown to have been intentionally self-inflicted by the employee, or to have been caused by substance abuse, generally are not covered. However, courts have often sided with the injured worker when such cases are disputed, ruling that the injury is covered as long as the employee’s behavior was not the only thing that caused the injury.
The Definition of “Working” Has Expanded
The legal definition of when you are working, for workers’ compensation purposes, also has expanded in recent years to cover a greater number of injuries. For example, employees who were injured playing baseball or football on a company-affiliated team have been allowed to collect workers’ compensation benefits for those injuries.
If you or someone you know has a Workers’ Comp issue, please contact a Workers’ Compensation Attorney today. Lawrence & Associates Accident and Injury Lawyers, LLC can help injured workers in Ohio and Kentucky. Call today for a free consultation.
Contact Us at (859.371.5997) or (513.351.5997) for a Free Consultation
