Workers’ compensation is insurance that protects employees in case he or she is injured during the course of his or her employment. This type of insurance is offered to the employee in order to ensure that his or her wages and medical costs are undoubtedly accounted for during the period of time in which he or she is suffering an injury, and therefore not able to attend his or her usual employment.

Benefits to the Employee

Wage Benefits

Workers’ compensation serves to benefit the employee in that it acts to protect him or her in a variety of ways. First of all, the employee is protected from the risk of losing his or her wages. When an individual experiences an injury on the job, he or she is at risk of losing his or her ability to perform paid wages.

This type of risk comes with the risk of losing access to funding necessary for paying for food, housing, and daily expenses. This is a type of risk that the individual simply cannot undergo. For this reason, it is necessary for workers’ compensation to offer the employee wages for the entire duration of which his injury is sustained.

This type of compensation of wages is offered by the employer, of course, in order to secure the employee’s safety.

Medical Benefits

Additionally, the insurance program of workers’ compensation offers the employee access to funding to pay for medical costs related to the injury. Should the employee need to seek the care of emergency services, workers’ compensation will cover this.

Should the employee need to seek out the services of a primary care physician, psychologist, or even specialist, workers’ compensation should cover this. If for some reason the necessary services are not covered by workers’ compensation, it is possible to discuss this matter with the insurance specialist for the company.

Though there are limits as to workers’ compensation coverage, it is generally understood that the employer must be responsible for the majority of the medical expenses.

Benefits to the Employer

The purpose of workers’ compensation from the employer’s perspective is not just the goodwill of ensuring his employees’ safety. The other purpose of workers’ compensation is to protect the employer from grandiose lawsuits.

The system of workers’ compensation comes with it an explicit agreement that the employee, after filing a claim for workers’ compensation, can then not pursue legal recourse against the employer for the injury sustained.

Overall, workers’ compensation insurance a mutually beneficial system for both the employee and the employer. The system compensates the employee for wages lost and medical expenses. It also protects the employee from being sued in a court of law.

Because of this wonderful system of workers’ compensations, thousands of employees every year are able to carry on their lives in relative wellness without being able to work. They are able to recover from their injuries rest assured that they are financially taken care of until they make a full return to employment.

Contact Smith-Ammons-Howle if you need legal help.