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Workers’ Compensation and Employer Defense Tactics

When a worker in Pennsylvania suffers an injury, they are protected by a particular set of rules that helps them maintain their rights. These rules are known as workers’ compensation laws. In PA, employers with any employees are required to purchase workers’ compensation insurance to cover both themselves and their workers. In other states, some companies are allowed to self-insure themselves or act as their own private insurance company.

When an employee is hurt on the job, they are covered by the workers’ comp insurance that their employer carries. This insurance covers their medical bills and a portion of their lost wages, as well as vocational rehabilitation benefits and death benefits for surviving family members. If an employer does not carry workers’ compensation insurance, they could be subject to fines or criminal charges.

What is Workers’ Compensation Defense?

When an employer fails to purchase workers’ compensation protection coverage as required by law, they may need to defend themselves when facing criminal charges or a personal injury lawsuit is filed against them by their injured employees. If you are a business owner accused of not protecting their employees with workers’ comp. coverage, working with a powerful legal advocate may be the best way to protect your rights and avoid some of the potential penalties of a verdict that is not in your favor.

Common Workers Comp Employer Defenses 

Employers will often turn to a variety of defenses to avoid approving employees’ workers’ comp claims. However, it should be noted that even if an employee does not qualify for or meet the eligibility requirements for workers’ compensation benefits, if a company does not have workers comp protection coverage as required by Pennsylvania law, penalties and sanctions may still apply.

With that in mind, some of the most common employer workers’ comp defenses include:

• Employees engaging in”horseplay”
• Employees self-inflicted their injuries
• The employee was under the influence of drugs or alcohol
• The employee failed to follow the company’s code of conduct
• The employee failed to notify the employer of their work-related injuries
• The employee had a pre-existing condition
• The employee’s injuries were not within the scope of their employment responsibilities
• The employees failed to file their workers’ compensation claim before the statute of limitations expiration date

Injured employees will likely have experienced workers’ compensation attorneys working with them to get denied claims overturned on appeal. For this reason, if you are an employer who anticipates winding up in court over a workers’ compensation matter, it is critical that you have a defense attorney on your side who can help protect you and your company from liability.

Employers May Face Penalties

There are many instances that injured workers can sue their employer rather than receive workers’ compensation. This is why employers may be in trouble if they do not carry workers’ compensation insurance. Failure to carry the proper insurance can result in:

• Fines
• Criminal prosecution
• Personal liability of the employer for the injury that their employee sustained
• An employee’s option to sue the company rather than filing for workers’ compensation

Remain in Compliance With State Law

In addition to having workers’ compensation insurance readily available for your staff, employers should also comply with these rules:

• Post a notice of compliance with workers’ compensation laws in an easily accessible area on the job site.
• Have immediate medical treatment available for an employee that has received an injury on the job.
• Facilitate the process for further care if an employee is unable to find a proper physician for treatment.
• Complete a proper report of the injury and send it to the closest workers’ compensation office. A copy of the report should also be mailed immediately to the company’s insurance company. An employer that does not make an injury report after the injury could be charged with a misdemeanor or fine.
• Make a written report of every single personal injury accident that takes away from work time or needs more treatment than readily available first aid treatment.
• Comply with all requests from the insurance company or workers’ compensation board for any documents, such as reports of the date of the employee’s return to work or a statement of the employee’s earnings before and after the accident.

Employer’s Duty Not to Retaliate

Although workers’ compensation provides employees with benefits for medical treatments and many other things, they also have to prevent their employer from retaliating against them for the injury occurring. Some employers will frown upon their employers for filing workers’ compensation. And quite a few employers attempt to mount a workers’ compensation employer defense against claims.

To protect employees from employers that will discriminate or wrongfully terminate them, states prohibit this action and allow employees to sue companies for the tort of “retaliatory discharge.”

If an employee believes that they are wrongfully discharged or discriminated against after filing for workers’ compensation, they may be eligible to file for a retaliatory discharge case. In a retaliatory discharge case, the plaintiff must prove that their employee wrongfully fired them after they filed for workers’ compensation. However, the employer does not have to admit that the workers’ compensation case was the sole reason for the termination.

Apart from discrimination, employers can also use retaliation by demoting an employee or reducing their salary. Injured employees are protected from retaliatory behavior immediately after the injury occurred and the workers’ compensation claim was filed.

Contact a Workers’ Compensation Employer Defense Attorney

If your business did not have workers’ compensation insurance coverage, or you are accused of failing to protect your employees with workers’ comp., and you are unsure of how to avoid the severe penalties, make sure you get a trusted workers’ compensation employer defense attorney working for you.

At Krasno, Krasno & Onwudinjo, we work hard to help employees that are discriminated against after hurting themselves on the job. Our dedicated team of workers’ compensation lawyers will work hard to help you receive the rights that you deserve. Contact us at (866)-948-9088 for a free case evaluation or more information.