Worker’s Compensation for Injured Employees

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Most employees, even those who are part-time and temporary laborers, are covered by worker’s compensation which is an employer-provided benefits that gives financial assistance to workers who sustained injuries or disability caused by a work-related accident.

To avoid paying for this benefit, employers should maintain a safe work environment for their employees.

Most states require employers to provide financial assistance to injured or disabled employees whose injuries are caused by work-related accidents. This assistance, called worker’s compensation, not only covers most private employees but also part-time and temporary workers.

According to employment lawyers, these are some of the benefits under worker’s compensation:

Temporary disability benefits

Because injured workers need time to recover, they will experience loss of wages, depending on how many days they will miss work. But with temporary disability benefits, this economic loss will be reimbursed.

Permanent disability benefits

In case that the injuries resulted to permanent disability, employers are required to pay their injured workers with this benefits to compensate for their complete loss or reduced earning capacity.

Medical care

This benefit will cover the hospital expenses, including the future medical needs of workers with injuries, illness, or disability that resulted from a job-related accident.

Retraining program

In some cases, employers are required to pay for their workers’ retraining or skill enhancement program that will allow them to seek other employment. This benefit is only provided if workers will not be able to return to their previous jobs because of their disability or health condition.

Death benefits

If workers die from their injuries, their families will receive death benefits to recover loss of wages and other damages.

How to Avoid Paying for Worker’s Compensation

Because worker’s compensation is paid by employers, they can save a lot of money if they will maintain a safe work environment and remove any hazardous condition to avoid injuries and accidents.

Aside from maintaining a safe environment, employers should draft a safety policy that will inform workers on how to avoid accidents. Safety policy includes wearing protective gear and equipment; reporting co-workers who are violating the safety policy; disciplinary action to anyone who will violate this policy; and safety measures applicable to a certain task.

However, safety policy may not be effective if it lacks implementation. With this consideration, supervisors and managers should carefully observe if the workers are following the company safety policy. These key employees should also give disciplinary action to anyone who will violate the safety protocol, so in this way, other workers will be deterred to commit the same negligent act.

Another way to make a workplace safe is to provide workers, especially those who are handling high-risk jobs, with safety training in a regular basis.

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