When you are injured on the job, you may be worried about where to file your workers’ compensation claim if your injury happened out of state. Perhaps your employer is based in Utah, you live in Nevada and you were injured on a call in Arizona. This can get complicated, and you may not know where to seek compensation.
Learning What Injuries Qualify
If you’re injured out-of-state, you may wonder whether it qualifies for workers’ compensation. This determination will be largely based on how and where you were injured. For example, if you are traveling through another state on your way to a work conference and are injured in a car accident, you may be able to receive compensation. If the conference got over two days ago and you decided to stay and do some sightseeing, injuries from an accident at that time probably wouldn’t be covered.
If you live and work in another state from where the company is located, you might have to provide more evidence of your injuries. For example, if you work from home and are out checking on your pet when your injury occurred, you probably wouldn’t be able to receive compensation. If that same job requires you to perform strenuous work in your home and you are injured while completing that work, you probably would be entitled to compensation.
Contacting Your Employer First
The first thing you should do is contact your employer. Each state has different requirements in regards to workers’ compensation, and you’ll need to know how your employer is insured. In most cases, he or she will be insured in the state where the company is based, but the policy might name multiple states. If that’s the case, you may have the right to choose where the claim gets filed. After reviewing all three states’ workers’ compensation laws, you can decide where you’d receive the biggest benefit.
There’s also a chance you’d be required to file the claim in a certain state. This is often based on requirements by state, but could be something determined in the specific workers’ compensation policy your employer holds.
Getting an Attorney Involved
Having to deal with workers’ compensation across state lines can get confusing, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to receive the compensation you are entitled to. For help in getting what you feel you are owed, regardless of the state you were injured in, get work injury attorneys, like from Rispoli & Borneo, P.C., involved today.