| Off-Premises Injuries While Traveling to and From Work |
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| Normally, if an employee is injured while traveling to or from work, such injury is not compensable unless the injury occurred on the employer's premises. However, when the travel itself is a major component of the services provided by the employee, the fact that the injury occurred off the employer's premises will not preclude compensation. More... |
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| Second Injury Funds |
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| Oftentimes, an employee may be suffering from an injury or disability and then be subsequently injured while working for the employer. Generally, the states have addressed this issue by creating a second injury fund. For the most part, the employer is only responsible for the workers' compensation benefits attributable to the injury incurred while the employee was working for the employer. The second injury fund would pick up where the employer left off by paying the difference between what the employer pays and what the employee is entitled for the total effect of all of his injuries.More... |
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| Determining "Dependency" for Workers' Compensation Death Benefits |
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| The issue of "dependency," with respect to the receipt of workers' compensation death benefits, is generally determined either as of the date of the worker's death or the date of the accident that caused his death. Those individuals who are, therefore, "dependents" on the requisite date will be eligible to receive death benefits in an amount commensurate with the measure of dependency on the worker, i.e. total or partial dependency.More... |
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| Casual Employment |
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| Many states apply an exemption to the workers' compensation system for "casual" employment, although the majority also requires that the employment not be within the employer's regular course of business. As to the majority's additional requirement, it is important to note that no matter how brief or irregular the employee's work may be, if it falls within the employer's regular course of business he will be covered by workers' compensation. In some states, the casual employee exemption has been specifically 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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