Workers' compensation insurance is vital to protect your business and in most states is mandatory. It will cover injuries or illnesses when they occur as a result of duties performed on the job or while at work. Some of the injuries that would be covered include injuries caused by lifting heavy equipment, slipping on a wet surface, or injuries because of fires or explosions. Protect your business from a lawsuit and your employees from loss of income. Contact us to tailor a worker’s comp plan that works best for your business.
Common Workers Compensation Questions:
Do I Need to Have Workers Compensation Insurance?
Workers’ compensation insurance is required by most States if a company has employees. This type of insurance covers an employee that is injured or contracts an illness due to their job. The insurance premium is based on the payroll amount estimated for the year and the type of work being done by the employee.
What Is Workers’ Compensation?
Workers' compensation insurance helps protect businesses and their employees from financial loss when an employee is hurt on the job or gets sick from a work-related cause. Workers’ compensation is also known as workman’s comp, workman’s compensation, and workers’ comp. These terms all mean the same thing and help protect workers from potentially devastating costs of work-related injuries. It also helps protect employers from potential damages that could cripple a business based on workers’ comp claims. Learn more about what is workers’ compensation insurance.
What Does Workers’ Compensation Cover?
Another frequently asked question includes the coverage of workers’ compensation insurance. The Hartford’s workers’ compensation insurance helps cover medical expenses, lost wages, ongoing care costs, as well as funeral expenses if an employee is hurt, becomes sick, or dies as a result of a work-related accident or illness.
What Should an Employee Do if Hurt on the Job?
If an employee is injured on the job, they should report the injury to their supervisor immediately. When the injury is reported, the report should include the date, time, and circumstances of the injury. Each state has different requirements about when an injury should be reported, but it’s always best to report the injury as soon as it happens.
Job-related illnesses that worsen over time should be reported as soon as a diagnosis has been obtained by the employee or as soon as they learn the injury or illness is related to their job.
How Do I File a Workers’ Compensation Claim?
Filing a workers’ compensation claim as soon as possible is important. Report a workplace injury or illness if:
• The injured person is an employee of your business
• Your employee became sick due to their work
• The employee gets injured because of job-related duties
• If the employee gets hurt in the workplace
Make sure your employee gets the proper medical treatment if they’re injured on the job. If you need to, call the ambulance or take them to the emergency room. If their recovery requires time off from work, approve their request.
Before filing a claim, you'll need to gather a lot of information. The actual information you’ll need can vary from state to state. Some general information an employer and employee may need to include when filing a claim includes:
• Company information (account number and location, policy number)
• Injured employee information (name, date of birth, address, phone number, Social Security number, age, gender, etc.)
• Details of the incident (date of incident, type of injury, exact body part injured, the cause of injury, estimated number of days the employee will lose, anticipated return date, any witnesses, etc.)
Once the necessary information is collected, you should file the claim with your insurance company as soon as possible. This process can differ depending on the state your business operates in. States may impose a window of time business owners have to report the matter to their workers’ compensation insurance carrier. New York, for example, requires reports to be filed within 30 days.
