Injuries and Getting Workers Compensation When You Work From Home

One of the main requirements when you make a workers compensation claim, is whether or not you are injured while on, or while doing, your job. Often, this is an easy question to answer–for many, it’s clear when you’re working or on the job, and when you are not.

But when employees work from home, things can get a bit tricky, when workers are injured.

Woman Falls on Her Own Dog

In a case that did actually happen, a woman was working from home, with the knowledge and permission of her employee, when, as she was walking around her home, she fell or tripped on her own dog, and was injured.

She made a workers compensation claim, saying that she was “on the clock,” doing work, answerable to her employee, and that falling over her dog in her kitchen would be no different than, say, falling over a box at work when you get up to use the restroom. As such, she sued for workers compensation benefits.

Her employer, as you can imagine, denied the claim, saying that falling over your dog in your kitchen is not an injury related to your work.

Injuries Related to The Work

The court said and the law remains that, it doesn’t matter where, geographically, the injury happened. The question is whether the employee’s job duties, done at home, were a major factor in the accident.

The injury sustained has to be something that arises from something unique or specific about your job. The job itself must be responsible for exposing the worker to danger.

As such, the court ruled that falling over her dog was a risk inherent in the employee’s home itself–not in any particular responsibility related to her job.

Examples of When You Can Get Workers Compensation

But there are cases where work-from-home injuries can be covered by workers compensation.

Imagine, for example, you work from home and get carpal tunnel syndrome from repeated typing. Or, that you were storing your employee’s boxes in your home and fell on them. Those would be examples where the nature of the work itself, exposed you to danger and ultimately, to injury.

In some cases, a fall at home could allow you to get workers compensation injuries, if your work-from-home job was one requiring you to get up and walk around–imagine you work from home but you get up to get a package delivered to your home by your employer, and while you are doing so, you fell. That could be covered by workers compensation.

Separating Work and Personal Time at Home

Remember that your employer will scrutinize what you were doing, if you are injured at home while on the job.

And while you cannot be fired for making a workers compensation claim, if your employer finds out that you were, for example, injured because you were gardening in your back yard while you were also “on the clock,” that could get you in trouble at work. Try to separate work time, and personal time, as best you can, when working from home.

Schedule a consultation today with our Tampa workers’ compensation lawyers at Barbas, Nunez, Sanders, Butler & Hovsepian if you were injured on the job or at work, and you’re having problems getting the medical care that you need.