All fifty states offer some kind of workers’ compensation program for workers who are injured on the job. If you’re injured at work in southern California, get advice regarding worker’s comp and help with the application process by contacting an experienced Los Angeles workers’ compensation lawyer. Workers’ compensation statutes are designed:
- to ensure that employees who are injured or disabled on the job are not required to cover the medical bills related to their on-the-job injury
- to provide employees who are injured or disabled on the job with monetary awards to cover loss of wages directly related to the accident
- to compensate workers for permanent physical impairments
Typically, workers’ compensation provides full medical treatment and a portion of the injured worker’s wages in return for not filing a formal lawsuit against the employer. (Exceptions are made in cases of excessive negligence.) To obtain workers’ compensation benefits, you must be the employee of a company that carries workers’ compensation insurance, and you must be injured or contract an illness at work or through your work-related duties.
Each state specifies the particular kinds of injuries covered by workers’ compensation in that state, but generally, any significant injury that happens at your jobsite or because of job-related duties will be covered. Scrapes, cuts, or anything that can be handled with a first-aid kit will not be covered. A small chemical spill that causes a single, brief headache will probably not be covered, but if you are exposed to something that causes frequent headaches, you should make a claim. Injuries suffered while commuting, while away from the jobsite for lunch, or caused by fighting, horseplay, or substance abuse are almost never covered by workers’ compensation. If you’ve been injured at work in southern California, don’t wait. Call an experienced Los Angeles workers’ compensation lawyer today for guidance and help with the workers’ compensation application process.