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Workers’ Compensation – What Is It?

May 18, 2016
Workers’ Compensation refers to laws that provide specific benefits to injured employees. Under such law, in most states, every business takes care to have some form of workers’ compensation insurance that will cover injuries sustained by their employees, if the injury takes place at the workplace. Imagine, for example, you work at a retail store. While you are working a shift, stocking the back room, a box from the top shelf tips and falls, hitting you on the way down and injuring your shoulder. In such a case you would be entitled to workers’ compensation.

Workers’ compensation claims are not lawsuits against an employer, instead workers’ compensation is very similar to regular insurance claims – you file the claim, your request for benefits, and if the claim is approved, you receive your monetary compensation for the injury. This eliminates the need for the injured employee to prove that the injury was due to the negligence of another; instead the injured employee simply gets coverage for whatever work-related injuries occurred, regardless of fault. This does not preclude the injured worker from seeking other damages if available. For example, if the injury was caused by defective machinery, then the injured party may be able to bring a civil suit against the manufacturer of that defective product. Keep in mind though that your employer can recover its workers’ compensation payments from any recovery that the injured party receives from the civil suit.

If you have been injured in the workplace, it is recommended that you contact a personal injury attorney to discuss your options. A lawyer can help you determine whether there are options other than workers’ compensation available in your case, and can provide will the necessary information to make an informed decision on how to proceed.

To schedule a free initial consultation with an experienced lawyer from the Law Offices Of Eslamboly Hakim in Los Angeles County, call 800-LAW-TALK (529-8255) or contact us online.

Sharona Hakim

Sharona Eslamboly Hakim, Esq. is a successful personal injury attorney and the principal of the Law Offices of Eslamboly Hakim firm in Beverly Hills, California.

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