| Act of God and the Concept of "Arising Out of the Employment" |
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| An act of God includes natural occurrences over which man generally has no control such as tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and lightening. Though an employee is injured due to an act of God, he may still recover workers' compensation benefits if he can show that the nature of his employment placed him at a greater risk for injury due to such an act of God. For example, consider the repairman who is required to work on downed power lines during a storm. He performs his work while a thunderstorm rages by standing in a bucket raised high into the air from the back of his repair truck. This situation would appear to elevate the employee's chances of being struck by lightening over the average individual. As such, it is likely that the employee would be compensated for an injury by lightening.More... |
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| Notice of Injury |
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| Generally, workers' compensation statutes contain a limitations period in which the injured employee must give notice of his injury. Under most circumstances, the notice is provided to the employer. The notice period itself is relatively small. Some statutes mandate that it be given as soon as possible while others provide for a fixed timeframe such as, for example, within a designated number of weeks or months following the injury. The required notice allows the employer to immediately provide the employee with medical care and allows for a more accurate and comprehensive investigation into the accident causing the employee's injury. If the employee does not give the mandated notice, his claim for benefits will be denied.More... |
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| Immunity From Third Party Actions |
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| When a worker is injured during the course of his employment, he may sometimes seek a common law recovery from the third party whose action or inaction caused the injury. Depending upon the jurisdiction, immunity from such a third party action may be extended to the employer or co-employees.More... |
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| Mental and Nervous Injury |
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| Generally, a worker's injury that occurs in the course of his employment is compensable even though it is a mental or nervous injury as opposed to a physical one. With causation and "arising out of the employment" issues dispensed with, the majority of states find that a mental condition, which causes a physical injury, is compensable. For example, a worker is frightened by a sudden event or accident and immediately thereafter suffers a heart attack. Compensability is no less viable when the mental stimulus is sustained over a period of time. For example, an employee who over the course of months is so pressured by the demands of his employer and his position that, even though relatively young, he suffers a heart attack.More... |
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| Correlation Between Workers' Compensation and Social Security Disability Benefits |
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| Workers' compensation and social security disability insurance (SSDI) benefits both aim to help disabled individuals by providing funds for income replacement. Though similar in purpose, the programs diverge in their criteria for the receipt of benefits. Eligibility for workers' compensation benefits requires that the individual be an employee who was injured on the job. In contrast, SSDI benefits are only issued to those individuals who are so severely disabled by a medically determinable impairment that they cannot engage in any substantial gainful activity. Additionally, to be declared eligible for SSDI benefits, an individual must have worked long enough to be "insured" and must not have reached a certain age.More... |
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