Although not based on negligence, you do have to be specifically engaged in work activities to be covered by workers’ compensation insurance.
Statistics show that as many as 42% of all construction industry deaths are the result of construction workers falling. The construction industry is a very risky industry in which to be employed. For this reason, if you employ more than one worker in the state of Missouri, you have to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Unlike other industries where you need to have five or more workers to be required to carry insurance for your employees, the construction field is different.
Workers’ compensation is a type of coverage that is meant to protect workers who are injured while working, but only if they are performing and engaged in the type of activities that are under the scope and the authority of their employment terms and duties. Although not based on negligence, you do have to be specifically engaged in work activities to be covered by workers’ compensation insurance if you are injured.
When are you covered if you fall at work?
If you were up high soldering a joint during a construction project and you slipped and fell, then that would be covered under workers’ compensation. But, if you climbed to the top to talk with one of your friends who was working while you were on break and you then fell, then you might not be eligible for compensation.
So, although you don’t have to prove negligence on behalf of your employer, you do have to prove that you were working under the scope of your employment duties instead of doing something of your own volition.
Can you sue your employer if you fall and are seriously injured?
The stipulation to having workers’ compensation is that if your employer carries it, under most circumstances, you are not allowed to sue them directly for personal injury. Workers compensation will pay for your medical bills and any lost wages, not the company that employs you.
You are not allowed to collect non-economic damages under workers’ compensation benefits. Therefore, your pain and suffering as well as any emotional distress that you might have suffered, would not be compensated by workers’ compensation insurance.
What if it was an egregious or malicious act that led to your injury?
Although workers compensation is not based on negligence, meaning that you don’t have to prove that your employer did anything careless that led to your accident, if they were negligent or malicious and it was blatant or intentional, then you might be able sue your employer directly.
Work Injury Lawyers in St. Louis
If you or a loved one have been injured by a fall at work, it is important that you contact a St. Louis work injury lawyer to make sure that you get all that you are entitled to, and to examine the specifics of your individual case to see what else is going on.