Questions and Answers

Understanding worker’s compensation is absolutely vital for both employers and employees. The insurance is mandated by law and is required for any employer who hires a certain number of full time employees.

Worker’s Comp: Questions and Answers

Anyone who could be injured while on the job needs to understand what worker’s compensation is and how it could help them. However, as with any law related subject, worker’s comp can be confusing. If you have tried to read information about it before only to get confused by legal jargon, then you need to get your questions answered. Here are answers to some of the most common questions about worker’s comp.

Q: Just what exactly is worker’s compensation?
A: Considered as technically a type of insurance, worker’s compensation is offered to provide for any employees who become injured when they are on the job. The compensation would pay for medical expenses and would pay wages for the injured employee for a specific amount of time.

Q: Where does it come from?
A: Worker’s comp comes about due to state to state regulations that require employers pay benefits to employees who were injured on the job. It began in 1911 when Wisconsin adopted the act, and since then, every state in the United States, has adopted similar acts in order to protect employees. The acts regulate how much compensation the employees can receive as well in an effort to regulate for both sides: the employee and the employer.

Q: If I file on my worker’s comp policy, what benefits can I get?
A: Generally, the worker’s comp covers a few different things. Of course, different insurance policies will cover differently, but here are the basics of the benefits that you could receive:

• Payment of medical costs from the injury
• Payment and benefits to cover wage loss due to the injury
• Benefits for both short and long term disability
• Any needed rehabilitation
• Funeral and death benefits to families should death of the employee occur

Q: What employers are legally required to have worker’s comp policies on their employees?
A: There are certain rules that determine if an employer is required to have worker’s comp insurance. These rules generally can vary from state to state, but they only require employers to have the insurance if they have a certain number of employees who are paid enough to be considered full time.

Q: Who pays worker’s compensation?
A: This is not an insurance that you will pay if you are an employee. Instead, this is an insurance policy that the employers are required to pay. In fact, it is against the law for employers to take money away from the employee to pay for the policy.

These answers should help you with many of the questions that you may have had regarding worker’s compensation and how it works for both the employer and the employee.