Receiving Workers’ Compensation as a Work-at-Home Employee
Working from home has its benefits, but sometimes those benefits do not include workers’ compensation. If you’re a work-at-home employee and you are injured while on the job, you might wonder whether you are covered.
What Is Your Role in Relation to the Company?
When it comes to workers who are able to use workers’ compensation, it depends on your role with the company. Those who are private contractors are typically not covered. For example, if you are a ghostwriter who contracts with a marketing company, you are typically considered self-employed. Carpal tunnel syndrome that occurs from all the typing you do would not be covered by the marketing company’s workers’ compensation policy. If you are an actual employee on the employer’s payroll, such as a project manager who oversees the ghostwriters, you would be entitled to workers’ compensation, even if your office is in your own home.
What Caused the Injury?
If you’ve determined that you are an actual employee and should be entitled to workers’ compensation, you have to look at what you were doing that caused the injury. To qualify, the injury must be a direct result of an on-the-job task. For example, if you put products in boxes, tape them up and ship them out, you could end up with a repetitive motion injury. That would be a direct result of your job, which means you could probably gain compensation. If you took a break from boxing things up and went out on the back patio to read a book, tripping and falling down the stairs in the process, the resulting injuries would likely not be covered.
Was the Accident a Result of a Beneficial Activity?
Sometimes an employee will do something that might not seem like it’s in the scope of employment, but upon further investigation, it is determined that the action was for the benefit of the employer. If the employer is financially or otherwise benefiting from the action that caused the accident, the employee would typically be covered.
Learning More by Contacting an Attorney
Dealing with workers’ compensation claims can be confusing, but you don’t have to do it on your own. Most often, an employer will handle the situation for you, but not always. If you’ve found yourself fighting for compensation because you were injured while working from home, an attorney can help. Contact a workers comp lawyer to learn more about these cases and what qualifies for compensation so you can begin the claims process.