Workers who sustain an injury in their line of work are often confused about what to do next. The process of claiming your worker’s compensation benefits can be intimidating and perplexing. Dealing with legal things is often beyond them as it involves many acts not all workers are fully familiar with.
The most common question workers’ compensation attorneys have to answer is ‘am I entitled to workers’ compensation benefits if I caused the accident’. The answer is yes, thanks to a concept called no-fault.
But what does it mean?
Let’s say a worker at a construction yard gets injured while operating a circular saw. The injury might be the fault of a careless worker or the result of malfunctioning equipment. Or maybe you can blame it on a scarce training provided by the employer.
However, when it comes to workers’ compensation benefits, it doesn’t matter who is at fault as long as the injury is sustained at work.
However, many workers still believe that they are not entitled to these benefits because they caused the accident that led to their or someone else’s injury. However, that is completely untrue!
If your employer or the insurance company that provides the workers’ compensation try to convince you otherwise, you should seek legal representation from an experienced work injury attorney group.
What is a No-Fault System?
The no-fault system ensures that the insurance company has to pay any worker’ claims regardless of who is responsible for the accident that resulted in an injury.
Therefore, even a worker who is directly responsible for an accident is entitled to workers’ compensation benefits.
This is very important for the workers, as the insurance company has to pay for any lost wages and medical bills right away, instead of waiting for long legal processes meant to determine who is at fault.
What makes it Different from a Fault System?
In any fault-based system, you have to determine who is at fault or responsible for causing an injury. The most common example of a fault system is car accidents.
In thecase of a car accident, it is important to determine which driver was responsible for the collision and any injuries either party sustained. Once the court determines the blame, the insurance company holds the driver at fault responsible for paying the required amount of money.
However, in a no-fault system, the lengthy process of determining the blame is skipped. This makes workers’ compensation processes shorter and helps the injured workers recover their money sooner.
What Does This Mean for Injured Workers
Injured workers can rest easy knowing they can recover their workers’ compensation benefits even if their negligence is what caused an accident that left them injured. A careless worker who got injured due to his own error has the right to be compensated for any missed work days or expensive medical bills.
In some extreme cases when workers try to deliberately cause an accident, they are not entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. However, these cases are very scarce.
Furthermore, the workers still have to prove that they sustained their injury in the line of duty. In other words, they have to prove that there is a connection between their employment and their injury.
The no-fault system was designed to protect both the employer and the worker and eliminate lengthy additional court hearings and processes. More importantly, it protects the workers by allowing them to recover their lost wages and medical expenses more efficiently.
