Workers Compensation Law: An Overview

It is important that there are certain guidelines that lay out a course of action for everyone involved so that each person can find out not only what they need to do, but what, if anything, they are entitled to.

Employees

Under workers compensation law an employee is given monetary assistance as well as medical benefits during the time in which they are recovering from a job related injury. For most people this can be a huge help when something like this happens. No one likes to think about being away from work and what that would mean to their family financially. So when something does happen, they may feel comfort knowing that some things are going to be taken care of while they are unable to take care of things themselves.

The key to workers compensation law is that it only works if the injury took place on the job site or in the course of performing a duty that is job related. If someone gets hurt over the weekend while participating in sports or in a car accident, they are not entitled to this assistance. In this case, disability insurance would be more of a solution if the employee purchased it. Litigation takes place when there is disagreement over whether or not an incident happened at work, in the course of performing work or the length of time that an injury keeps someone away from their job.

Employers

Employers usually have some type of insurance that will give them assistance in a situation that revolves around workers compensation law. This way, if something does happen they are not going to have to pay all of the expenses out of pocket. Because it may be impossible to ever foresee something like this happening, the insurance is a safety net. Also, if an employee takes the money and benefits they are then not able to seek out more damages with a lawsuit.

While this does seem helpful, it is not a perfect system. There are disagreements between employers, employees and the insurance companies when it comes to how much money is going to be given to an individual when a work related incident takes place. Here workers compensation law comes into play and parties hire representation and either attempt to mediate the situation or take someone to court in order to get what they believe they are owed.

While workers compensation law does cover a work related accident, it doesn't necessarily apply when either the employer or employee has been negligent. These cases typically end up in court with one side of the argument looking to prove that negligence caused the accident. Attorneys also look into whether or not a company's protocols were followed and how this effected the situation.