| Workers' Compensation |
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| Workers' compensation is an employer-provided benefit that exists to aid an employee or his dependents in the event that the employee is injured or killed on the job. Workers' compensation is governed by each state's laws, but the general consensus is that eligibility for such benefits turns on whether the employee suffered an accidental injury that arose out of and in the course of his employment or an occupational disease.More... |
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| On-Call Employees |
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| Professions that may require employees to reside on the premises and be "on-call" include servants, security guards, private nurses, nannies, and the like. Continuously on-call employees who reside on their work premises are generally covered under the "course of employment" principle should they be injured. If the employee is not always on-call but, rather, has only specified hours in which he is on-call, he will only be allowed compensation if the injury was due to his living conditions as a by-product of the employer's requirement that he remain on the premises.More... |
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| Traveling To and From Work |
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| Employees do not only suffer injuries while actively in the service of their employer. Some injuries occur outside working hours while the employee is traveling to or from work. Workers' compensation for such injuries may be recovered only if they occur on the employer's premises. The employer's "premises" is not just that area in which the employee normally works or where the majority of work performed for the employer takes place. Rather, "premises" encompasses the entire grounds of the employer including all buildings and structures thereon as well as parking lots. Generally, compensation will be denied if the employee was injured elsewhere. Additionally, this "going and coming" rule for compensability is only applicable when the employee has established working hours and a set working location. More... |
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| Workers' Compensation Award Credit for Actual Earnings |
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| In some instances, an injured employee will return to his former position and resume making the same earnings as before the injury. When such an individual has received a workers' compensation benefit, the question arises whether the employer is entitled to a credit on the amount of benefits that were paid to the employee. If the employer paid the employee's wages, intending such wages to take the place of any benefit compensation, then the employer would be entitled to a credit. However, there is rarely direct evidence of the employer's intention in this regard.More... |
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| Casual Employment |
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| Many states apply an exemption to the workers' compensation system for "casual" employment, although the majority also requires that the employment not be within the employer's regular course of business. As to the majority's additional requirement, it is important to note that no matter how brief or irregular the employee's work may be, if it falls within the employer's regular course of business he will be covered by workers' compensation. In some states, the casual employee exemption has been specifically denied. More... |
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