Getting Workers’ Compensation for Contraction of Cancer on the Job

What is, perhaps, the worst illness or disease that a worker could contract on the job, cancer, is, ironically, one of the hardest types of illnesses to get worker compensation benefits to pay for. But that doesn’t mean it is impossible.

Cancer is, legally, treated no differently than any other disease, ailment or injury that you might sustain on the job. That means that yes, you certainly can get workers’ compensation to pay for medical care and treatment related to the development of cancer.

How Did You Contract Cancer?

The problem–and the way that your employer will contest your worker compensation claim–is that to get workers’ compensation benefits for anything, you have to show that the injury or illness or malady is related to the job, or caused by the job, while you were engaged in your work duties.

The problem with that is that when it comes to cancer, we often don’t know where we contracted cancer from, or where it came from. And in many cases, people might develop cancer, for no known reason at all. So, it is the “cause and effect” proof that can create problems, when making claims for benefits for cancer.

Some Jobs are Easier to Prove Causation Than Others

Of course, it is easier to make the claim, and prove the link between your cancer and your job or work environment, depending on what job you work in. A worker working outside in construction who develops skin cancer, may have a much easier time showing that her cancer was caused by her job or her work environment than, say, an indoor office worker.

A worker who works around chemicals that might be known carcinogens, may also have a stronger claim than other workers might.

You cannot just say that you work in a certain environment, and that the environment exposed you to cancer. You, as the injured worker, will have to actually prove some type of connection, or that there is a known scientific relationship between whatever you were exposed to at work, and the development of cancer.

Opening the Floodgates

Another reason that many employers will fight back when a worker makes a workers’ compensation claim for benefits, is worry about liability.

If an employer just agrees that your workplace environment caused your cancer, that potentially opens up the floodgates to being sued by any number of (non-employee) people, or might risk government (OSHA) violations.

Firefighter Exceptions

There is only one profession where the connection between work, and the development of cancer, will be assumed (and doesn’t have to be proven by the injured or sick employee): firefighters.

If a firefighter has been at his or her job for 5 or more years, doesn’t work in any other job that might expose them to carcinogens, and so long as the firefighter doesn’t use tobacco products, the law will assume that the firefighter’s cancer was caused by his or her work environment.

Firefighters are eligible for a one time, $25,000 payout for cancer treatment, but technically, this firefighters exception, is a separate law, and is not part of Florida’s worker compensation laws.

You can get workers’ compensation benefits for illness and disease caused by your work. Schedule a consultation today with our Tampa workers’ compensation attorneys at Barbas, Nunez, Sanders, Butler & Hovsepian.

Sources:

sunshinestatenews.com/story/bill-fourth-try-four-years-secure-cancer-coverage-firefighters

myfloridacfo.com/DIVISION/WC/pdf/WC-System-Guide.pdf