A few of your coworkers injured themselves on the clock recently, but not all of them qualified for workers’ compensation coverage. In case you suffer an injury on the job, you want to know whether to file a workers’ comp claim or use your own health insurance.
Insurance Business magazine explores situations in which employers do not have to cover workplace injuries. Learn where to turn if you ever hurt yourself on the clock.
Playing around
If employees rough-house on the clock and hurt themselves, their employer does not have to honor any resulting workers’ comp claims. The employees did not sustain an injury while engaged in regular work duties, so they do not qualify for workers’ comp. On the other hand, if the workers fooling around hurt an employee tending to actual work responsibilities, that single employee’s injuries meet the requirements for workers’ comp insurance.
Going-and-coming rule
Those who work on a construction site, brick-and-mortar store or another fixed place of employment do not qualify for workers’ comp coverage if they hurt themselves on the way to or from work. The same does not apply if you trip or slip and fall in the parking lot immediately before or after work, in which case you could make a claim. Employees who hurt themselves while running errands for their employer or tending to workplace business outside of the office may make a claim. Those without a specific place of employment also meet the requirements for workers’ comp if they hurt themselves.
Learn how workers’ comp works to speed things up if you ever injure yourself on the clock. Proper knowledge puts you on the road to recovery as quickly as possible.
