Who is Eligible for Workers' Compensation?

Workers' comp is a government run insurance program created to protect workers in the event of an injury accident on the job. Workers' comp provides coverage for medical bills and replaces a part of the worker's pay while he or she is off the job. Workers' compensation also covers for illness that can be tracked back to the job or job related activities. Basically the only criterion is that the injury or illness is job related.

So who is eligible to receive workers' compensation? Determining eligibility is not easy and is usually done by a state board set up to hear and settle the claims. It should be noted that agreeing to take payment for workers' compensation means you forgo the right to sue your employer. You must file a claim first during which you must substantiate that your injury or illness was not caused by willful misconduct on your part, that it was not caused by serious misconduct, and that your illness or injury was not caused prior to being hired by your company where the injury or illness happened. Examples of on the job injuries include those caused by construction accidents.

Failure to substantiate any of these claims is grounds for dismissal of your claim and can possibly, in some states, subject you to criminal charges for fraud. Other workers' comp eligibility can come under certain other conditions including, when your injury or illness is caused by your employers intentional misconduct, or when your injury is caused by serious misconduct on the part of your employer. If these last two conditions are proven, then you may be eligible for double benefits from workers comp. Some illnesses and injuries that are covered by workers' comp include burns, scrapes, cuts, broken bones, neck, face and hand scarring, work induced mental health problems, and repetitive stress injuries tot he back, hands or wrists, to name a few.

Workers' compensation laws had their beginnings on the federal level; however, the laws today are all administered through state government. The reason for this is that the individual cases be presided over where they occur. Since that happens at the state level then law holds that it should be administered within the jurisdiction where the accident, injury, or illness happened.

If you have been injured at work or in another type of accident, contact our Corpus Christi accident attorneys. We represent victims of trucking accidents, medical negligence, traumatic brain injury, and product liability.