Who Pays Workers’ Comp Claims?

This video features Sarah E. Stottlemyer, an Employment and Labor Law attorney based in Georgia.

Sarah E. Stottlemyer | 888-981-8971 | Free Consult

If you’ve been injured on the job, you may be wondering how you’re going to pay your medical bills on top of making up for lost wages in order to provide for you and your family. This is where workers’ compensation, generally referred to as workers’ comp, comes in.

One common question: who pays workers’ comp claims? The employer, or someone else?

Sarah E. Stottlemyer is a workers’ compensation employee at Stottlemyer & Associates, LLC based in Atlanta, Georgia.

To learn more, contact the attorney directly by calling 888-981-8971 or by submitting a contact form on this page. The consultation is free and confidential, and you owe no out-of-pocket attorney fees.

What is workers’ compensation?

Workers’ comp provides for an employee’s medical expenses, lost wages, and rehabilitation costs in the wake of an injury obtained at work through workers’ compensation insurance your company may provide. If you were injured on the job, you are likely entitled to workers’ comp if your state requires employers to do so.

Don’t accept an offer for your employer to cover your medical bills.

Some employers may offer to cover your medical bills instead of offering workers’ comp. Attorneys advise you not to accept this offer, as eventually there will be a time when your employer cannot afford to pay. Even when this offer is made out of the goodness of their heart, employers tend to underestimate the cost of medical care and forget that you may have bills that extend into the future, especially if your injury was one which will require follow-up care or rehabilitation.

A workers’ comp claim is against the insurance company, not your employer.

Some people may feel reticent to file a workers’ comp claim due to company loyalty. Many people who have worked for a company for a long time or are on good footing with their management worry that filing for workers’ comp will ruin their standing with the company or possibly cause them to lose a job. This is not the case. A workers’ comp claim is not made against the company you work for. Instead, it is made against your employer’s insurance company.

Some businesses are exempt from providing workers’ comp, but you may still file a personal injury claim.

Depending on your state’s guidelines, some examples of businesses which may be exempt from providing workers’ comp include:

  • Sole proprietorships
  • Household/domestic work
  • Agricultural work
  • Nonprofit or religious affiliated organizations.

If you were injured at work and your employer does not cover workers’ comp, you have another options: you can file a personal injury claim against the company.

If you are considering a personal injury lawsuit, seek legal advice.

If you think you might need to file a personal injury lawsuit against your company, it’s a good idea to contact an experienced personal injury attorney to navigate the complexities of the law and fight for your ability to provide for yourself and your family.

If a lawsuit seems like it must be out of your price range, there’s good news for you. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency, which means you don’t pay unless they win.

To learn more, contact Sarah E. Stottlemyer directly by calling 888-981-8971 or by submitting a contact form on this page. The consultation is free and confidential, and you owe no out-of-pocket attorney fees.

Video Transcript:

Rob Rosenthal:
Here’s a Quick Question from AskTheLawyers.com™. Do you know who you have a claim against if you’re injured on the job? We asked the Atlanta attorney, Sarah Stottlemeyer.

Sarah Stottlemyer:
Your claim is going to be against your employer and their insurer. So, employers in Georgia are required to have workers’ compensation insurance if they have three or more employees. So, you would file against your employer. However, they are not personally liable for your injury. It would go to their insurance carrier. So, your actual claim will be against the insurance company. The insurance companies, groups that will be paying for your medical bills and lost wages. It will not be directly your employer. I sometimes have clients that really love their employers and they’ve been long term employees, don’t want to lose their job, don’t want to put their employers in any sort of a bad position. And I have to explain to them that it’s not actually against them. It’s against their workers’ comp insurance company.

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