Can You Get Worker's Compensation If You Work From Home?
Posted on: 23 April 2020
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Working from home has become increasingly popular in recent years. More people are either telecommuting from their workplace and either working at home or at a remote location. There is an increase in freelance and contract workers who have home offices to perform their work. What happens if these workers are hurt while working at home? Are they eligible for worker's compensation?
It is possible to receive worker's compensation if you work from home if you can prove that the injury occurred while doing your work. Here is some information on receiving worker's compensation while working from home.
You Must Prove Your Work-Related Injury
It can be difficult to do, but you must be able to prove that any injury you suffered occurred while you were working from home. You need to be able to prove that the injury didn't occur while doing regular activities such as cleaning. This means, do you record your scheduled hours you work at home? And can you prove either through your employer through phone calls or data transfers, or a software program you have installed on your computer that the injury occurred during work hours?
Did the injury happen in your home office or where you complete work for your employer? For example, did you slip and fall due to a piece of necessary equipment in either your office or garage that either wasn't installed properly by the company or took up too much space in your home?
Are you suffering from carpal tunnel due to injuries sustained working on data entry or virtual assistant work? This could be due to the company not providing the proper chairs or computer equipment when it was their wish to have you work from home and were supposed to provide such equipment. Contact a workers compensation law attorney to see what can be done in this case.
You need to prove your injury was sustained during the course of working from home to be eligible.
Are Contractors Or Freelancers Eligible?
For the most part, most contractors and freelancers aren't eligible for worker's compensation via an employer as they are contract workers. However, it might be possible to receive compensation if you are injured and are a contractor or freelancer if you can prove the company you work with was negligent in providing you with the proper and safe equipment to work with. This is true in the case of designers or builders who receive the materials from the company to work with.
You can check with the company you are working with to see how they classify contractors and freelancers within their organization. If you are classified as a remote worker, it may be possible to apply for worker's compensation as many businesses do offer insurance coverage for remote workers in their company.
It's a good idea to contact a lawyer to see what your rights are in this case to receive fair compensation.