Under California Labor Code Section 3700, all California employers are required to provide workers compensation benefits to their employees. If a business has even one employee, they are required to acquire workers compensation insurance.
The workers compensation system helps employers and employees from suffering financial loss when a worker is hurt during the course of employment. An employee is not required to be full-time to recover workers compensation benefits. Part-time employees are also covered under the system.
A workers compensation policy covers various costs associated with an injured workers injuries including medical treatment, wage loss due to time away from work, prescriptions, and surgeries.
A workers compensation attorney will identify the employers insurance information through a coverage search. Thus, if an injured worker is not aware of the employers carrier, it is not an issue.
Through the workers compensation system, an injured worker can file two types of claims. The first type of injury is legally termed a “specific injury.” This is the typical type of claim one things of when workers compensation comes to mind; “I fell off my chair at work and strained my back.” Any injury that an be pinpointed to a specific time and place is likely to qualify as a specific injury.
The second type of workers compensation injury is an injury sustained on a cumulative basis or better known as a cumulative trauma claim. This means that due to repetitive job duties performed over and over again, an injured workers sustained injury to certain body parts, i.e. lifting above the shoulder to place boxes on the shelf day in and day out even over a short term period, like 3 months, still qualifies as a cumulative trauma claim.
The determination of whether a specific or cumulative injury has occurred is on the appropriate based on medical evidence. Just because someone fell off a chair and strained their back does not automatically qualify as an injury that qualified for workers compensation benefits. The inverse of this is also true, just because an employee cannot pinpoint a specific date and time of an injury does not mean that they did not sustain an injury during the course and scope of employment.
Contacting a workers compensation attorney to analyze the nuances in the law and the specific facts in your case is highly beneficial to determine eligibility. Don’t delay any further and contact us.
