Most employees know the term worker’s comp, or they’ve heard someone mention it in passing. Usually, you don’t have to worry about it as a company employee. If you hurt yourself and can’t keep working, though, at least for a time, then you will need to learn about worker’s comp without delay.
An employer must follow rigid worker’s comp rules, but an employee must as well if they hope to get any money this way. In this article, we’ll talk about worker’s comp. In particular, we will discuss how this kind of a policy can help you if you sustain an on-the-job injury.
What Does Worker’s Compensation Mean?
First, let’s talk about what the term “worker’s comp” indicates. It means worker’s compensation, and it’s a type of insurance policy that many employers must carry.
If you hurt yourself while on the job, then, in most instances, you can collect worker’s compensation. However, you can only collect money if you and your employer both followed the rules that the insurance company and your state put in place.
Worker’s compensation rules will vary from state to state. They usually closely resemble each other. In one state, though, you may have some slight variations if you put a worker’s comp policy up alongside one from a neighboring state.
Must Every Employer Carry Worker’s Comp?
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For the most part, every company that has multiple employees must have a worker’s compensation policy. Carrying such insurance has compulsory status. In other words, the state demands that almost every employer carry such a policy.
Much like the car insurance policies in some states that a driver must carry, the worker’s comp policy that a company carries must ensure that every employer has a certain monetary allocation. That means, if an employee hurts themselves while on the job, and their boss follows a claim correctly on their behalf, they can start to get money while they recuperate.
However, every state has exceptions regarding worker’s comp. Again, these vary, but you will also see some universalities if you compare them.
For instance, a company that only has one employee (the owner), need not legally carry worker’s comp. That’s one way a company owner can skirt this law when they only have a very bare bones startup.
As soon as they hire another employee, though, that typically means they must immediately start carrying worker’s comp. If they don’t, and the state’s government finds out, they can impose steep fines and other penalties. They might even shut the company down in some instances.
Under What Circumstances Might You File a Claim?
Let’s say you’re a company’s employee, and you hurt yourself while at work. Maybe you worked on their assembly line, and you slipped on some spilled liquid and fell. Perhaps some gears mangled your hand or you inhaled some toxic chemicals and they damaged your lungs.
That’s probably a situation where you can collect worker’s comp. To successfully do so, though, you must immediately tell your boss that you hurt yourself while on the job.
By doing this, you start the process. Your boss can make out the necessary paperwork. They’ll also want to see a doctor’s report when you go to get medical attention.
They will give their worker’s comp insurance provider that paperwork. If the provider feels they have enough documentation, then you can probably start collecting worker’s comp relatively quickly.
You might also collect worker’s comp if you’re driving a vehicle for your place of employment and another car runs into you. You’re still technically on the job, so you can probably collect payments, just like you can if you hurt yourself while you’re at your company’s brick-and-mortar store location.
You should also know about some exceptions, though. For instance, if you ingested alcohol before coming to work, and then you hurt yourself, that might disqualify you.
If your boss makes you take a breathalyzer, and you fail it, then that probably means you won’t get worker’s comp. Certain other exceptions usually exist as well. Every policy will have slightly different terminology that discusses this kind of thing.
Will You Get Your Full Paycheck Amount with Worker’s Comp?
You usually can’t get the whole amount of your typical paycheck if you start collecting worker’s comp. You can often get most of it, though.
For example, you might successfully file a worker’s comp claim and then start getting 80% of your weekly paycheck. That’s not ideal, but it’s better than nothing.
You can look at that pay cut like an incentive. Since you’ll have less money coming in, you will probably want to get back to work as quickly as possible. Hopefully, you will not have a very serious injury or illness, and you can get back to the job so that you can start earning your full paycheck sooner rather than later.
How Long Can You Collect Worker’s Comp?
You must look up the rules for how long you can collect worker’s comp. Your state will typically impose such rules, and the individual insurance policy will have a rigid structure in place too.
Often, you can collect worker’s comp for a few months if you hurt yourself pretty seriously or the job made you very sick. The money will run out eventually, though. That’s why, if you sustained what turns into a permanent injury, you will ultimately have to look at other options.
That often involves collecting disability payments. If you originally hoped that you could get back to work, but now, it looks like it can never happen, then a transition from worker’s comp to disability payments might happen.
If it does, then that means you’re going from getting money from a private insurance company to getting it from the United States government. You might need to go from navigating one complex and possibly frustrating system to another one.
Neither worker’s comp nor disability constitute a perfect system, but that’s what you may have available.
