05/10/2024
ARE WORKERS' COMPENSATION BENEFITS AVAILABLE WHEN A WORKER IS NOT ON THE CLOCK AT THE TIME OF THE INJURY?
Most people understand that if they are at work, and are injured while working, they are eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. However, workers’ compensation benefits can also be available in situations where it might not be expected.
Here are some examples of actual factual patterns from cases that were litigated. You can decide whether coverage was found to be available in each scenario:
1. Employee is taking a smoke break out back of his employer’s shop. A co-worker, who is not working at the time, stops by with their dog, and the dog bites the employee. Is the employee covered?
2. Employee, who is a work from home employee, trips and falls while going to the bathroom in their home. Is the employee covered?
3. Employee, who has had past episodes of seizure disorders, suffers a seizure at work, falls to the ground and strikes her head on the floor, sustaining a concussion. Is the employee covered?
4. Employee injured at a machine shop where he works when he stays after work to use the employer’s machines (with his supervisor’s permission) to work on a part for his golf cart. Is employee covered?
5. Employee leaves early for work because of concerns about a potential snowstorm, arrives one hour early, and decides to sleep in his vehicle in the company parking lot until it is time for his shift to begin. Employee is injured one half hour later when his vehicle is struck by a co-worker’s vehicle who is arriving for work. Is employee covered?
6. Employee, while on an unpaid lunch break but still on employer’s premises, decides to jump from the top of a flight of stairs to the bottom, “just to see if he could do it”, and is injured. Is employee covered?
7. Employee is injured playing softball on a company-sponsored softball team. Is employee covered?
Questions about Workers’ Compensation?
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