Workers Compensation Insurance
What Is Workers Compensation Insurance?
Employers are legally obligated to take reasonable care to assure that their workplaces are safe. Nevertheless, accidents happen. When they do, workers compensation insurance provides coverage.
Workers compensation insurance serves two purposes: It assures that injured workers get medical care and compensation for a portion of the income they lose while they are unable to return to work and it usually protects employers from lawsuits by workers injured while working.
Workers receive benefits regardless of who was at fault in the accident. If a worker is killed while working, workers comp (as it is often abbreviated) provides death benefits for the worker’s dependents.
Learn more about Workers Compensation Insurance
Your Obligations
In most states you are required to keep records of accidents. You must report work-related accidents to the state workers compensation board and to your insurer within a specified number of days.
Studies suggest that the faster the insurer receives notice of an injury and can initiate medical treatment and benefits, the faster the injured worker recuperates and returns to work. To help get medical treatment to the injured worker faster, some insurers help employers file promptly a "first notice of injury" with the state agency responsible for overseeing the workers compensation system, a step which can trigger the claim process.