If you are ever hurt on the job, your first natural reaction would be to hire a personal injury lawyer. Your next natural reaction would be to work with your lawyer to file a workers’ comp claim which would give you the monetary benefits you need to fully recover. If you felt that winning a workers’ compensation claim with your employer’s insurance company was easy, it may have come as a complete shock to you when your claim was denied even though it had a legitimate foundation. You and your personal injury lawyer in Menifee can indeed fight back, but the two of you will have to fully understand why your initial claim was denied in the first place. This article will offer you valuable insights regarding this.

Employment and insurance are two of the necessary components of workers’ comp

Your personal injury lawyer will inform you that the nature of your injury and claim must meet workers’ comp’s basic definitions and requirements for your application to qualify. However, your application must also meet the following two criteria:

● You must have been on the payroll when you got hurt. Your employer doesn’t have to pay you a penny in benefits if you were working for him or her as an independent contractor when you got hurt. You must have been an employee on the payroll when you got hurt on the job. The one exception if is your employer considered you to be an independent contractor when you were really his or her employee.
● The person or company that you work for must carry workers’ compensation insurance. Most states in America do require employers with 2 or more employees to carry workers’ compensation insurance. But keep in mind that you will not receive a penny in benefits if your employer doesn’t carry workers’ comp.

What if you weren’t hurt on the job

Personal injury lawyers know that you must have been hurt while working if you want to receive a penny in workers’ comp benefits. The two main instances in which you’ll receive workers’ compensation insurance are:

● If you were hurt while performing tasks that benefitted your employer. A slip and fall at a business conference two states away count because this conference was for your employer’s benefit.
● You got sick or hurt because you were working.

Keep in mind that a whiplash that was sustained while you were coming home from work doesn’t count because this action benefitted you and not your employer. You’ll also not be covered if you were hurt while drinking (alcohol), or while behaving improperly while working.