Monday, November 1, 2010

Who Is Covered By The Workers Compensation Law?

Author: Howard Batt

Job Vacancy, Indonesia Job, Job Indonesia, Jobs, Careers

A lot of people who are injured on the job may wonder if they have the right to collect workers compensation. Some will not even report the injury, believing that if they are at fault in the injury, they do not have the right to collect for their injured status.
Depending upon what state you work in, those statutes can change, but for the most part, anyone who is injured on the job, with just a few exceptions, has the right to collect workers compensation for their injury, and at least to be covered prior to coming back to work.
In most cases when you are injured while working for an employer, regardless of who is at fault in the injury, you have the right to medical treatment and you do have the right to some type of compensation.
There are some exceptions to this rule of being able to have the compensation though. In some states if you are an independent contractor, even if you are working in the facility as part of a team, if you are injured on the job, you are not eligible for compensation from the company that you are working at, but you are eligible for the compensation for your injury from the company that you are employed for. For example if your electrical company is working inside a computer shop, if you are shocked at the shop, regardless of who is at fault, you can get immediate and lifesaving treatment, but you may not try to claim workers compensation from the computer store.
You are however, eligible to claim workers compensation from the electrical service that you work for. This means that someone will be paying your compensatory wages and your medical expenses but it will not be the company in which you were working.
Another group which is not able to use the workers compensation for a given company will be the independent contractor or temp worker. IF you are working as a temporary service or are booked in for what you do as a consultant or an independent contractor, you are not able to collect workers compensation even if you are injured on the job. This does of course depend on the contract under which you are working.
In addition, this does not mean that you should not report an injury. If you do not report within a reasonable amount of time, usually seven days, even if you may by some chance be able to get your compensation, you are going to be denied it.
Likewise, in most states, the compensation for injured workers will mean that you may not sue the company who is paying you the compensation. You will want to report any injury and to seek out treatment as rapidly as possible when you are injured and you may wish to seek out legal advice to find out the best way to proceed if you are injured at work or in a job in which you are a consultant.

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