To collect workers’ compensation, the injury or disease must arise during your employment. But what does that mean?
Hurt on premises
If you are injured at your actual workplace, you may have a workers’ comp claim, as long as you were doing something work-related. This means the employee must have been injured during the course and scope of her employment.
Whether or not something is work-related is very specific to each situation. Pennsylvania courts have found that the Workers’ Compensation Act was not intended to make employers liable for all injuries that take place on their premises. In other words, just because the injury took place on an employer’s premises doesn’t always mean they are responsible, and doesn’t mean the injured person is eligible for workers’ comp.
Examples of when an injury at work may not be covered by workers’ comp include situations where the employee was:
- intoxicated or using illegal drugs
- trying to hurt themselves or someone else
- committing a serious crime
- fooling around (“horseplay”), or
- breaking a workplace rule on purpose.
However, if you get injured in the workplace while working or doing something to benefit your employer, you may have a valid workers’ comp claim. So, you may have a claim if you are injured while carrying out a job duty or if you are doing something that promotes your employer’s interest, such as using the restroom or taking a short break.
Hurt but not on employer’s premises
You don’t have to be physically on the premises of the employer, so long as you are engaged in the “furtherance of the business or affairs of the employer” when the injury occurs.
For example, you could have a workers’ comp claim if you are hurt while traveling on a business trip, or at a customers’ home, or traveling on a sales call. You may also have a workers’ comp claim if you are a remote employee and are hurt while working at your remote location.
Occupational disease
Sometimes a work injury happens in one clear event, like banging your head on a pipe or breaking a bone in a fall.
But oftentimes, a work injury or illness can develop incrementally over time. Widely recognized examples of this type of occupational disease include lung disease caused by asbestos, repetitive stress injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome, and hearing loss.
To have a workers’ comp claim for an occupational disease, the disease must have been proximately caused by, or aggravated by, the conditions of your work.
Was Meredith hurt “at work”?
Turning back to The Office to illustrate, let’s look at a scene from the “Fun Run” episode. Michael Scott, the boss of The Office, is driving to work. As he turns into the parking lot of the office, his eyes stray from the road for a few seconds, until BAM! He hits something, and we see the body of Meredith (an employee) hit the windshield, then roll off the hood of the car onto the ground.
Meredith is injured, but could she have a workers’ comp claim? This would depend on if she was injured during the course and scope of her employment, which is not clear from the information we have. The injury occurred in the parking lot of the building where she works, probably as she was on her way into the office. Whether or not that is her employer’s premises is one thing that would need to be investigated further. Even if that is her employer’s premises, they still might not be liable for her injury if for example it was deemed that Michael hit her intentionally.
Whether or not a person has a valid workers’ comp claim depends on many factors, specific to their particular circumstances, which is one reason why you need an experienced workers’ comp attorney to analyze the situation with you.
Denial of workers’ comp claim
Your employer or their insurer may claim that you were not at work when you were injured, that your injury is not work-related, or your disease was not caused or aggravated by your workplace conditions. If your claim is denied for one of these or any other reason, you should immediately seek the assistance of an experienced workers’ comp attorney, like those at Aversa and Linn.
If you have suffered a work injury or disease, contact the experienced workers’ compensation lawyers at Aversa and Linn to assist you with understanding your rights under the law.
