Can You File Workers’ Comp if You Work from Home?
- Posted on: Jul 29 2020
With many people working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, you might be wondering what would happen if you were to have an injury that was related to your job. Can you file for workers’ comp if you get hurt in your own home? As with many legal situations, it depends on how you were injured and other circumstances. Here are some of these circumstances.
There’s Nothing That Disqualifies You
Just because you were working at home at the time of the injury doesn’t mean you’re automatically disqualified from workers’ comp protections. There’s nothing in workers’ comp regulations or laws that disqualifies telecommuters. Normally, the situation is treated in the same way as an injury that occurred during a work-related activity but outside of the office. However, these cases are generally more complicated than a workers’ comp injury that occurred on the job site.
You Need to Prove Three Things
In order to win your workers’ comp case, you need to show three things. First, the injury needed to occur while you were performing an action your employer benefited from. For example, if you developed carpal tunnel as a result of working on a computer in your home office, it’s likely covered since the condition developed due to work. If you step out of your home office to do a load of laundry, slip, and break your arm, you may have a harder fight to win.
Second, you need to show that your employer required you to perform the action or activity that resulted in the injury. Falling down your icy front steps while going to mail a package to a client is likely covered if your employer directed you to run that errand. Again, the laundry example is likely not.
Finally, you need to show that your employer fully approved of you working remotely and knew you were doing so. This is generally the easiest of the three points to prove.
You Need a Doctor on Your Side
Generally, as long as you can show that your injury was in some way related to your job, you have a good chance of winning your workers’ comp case. You can also increase your chances of winning by having your injury evaluated by a doctor who understands workers comp. Dr. Jeff Mollins is one such doctor. If you’ve been injured while working, regardless of where you were, contact us today to set up an appointment.
Posted in: Blog, Uncategorized, Work Injuries, Workers Compensation
