Employees who are injured at the workplace during working hours are eligible for compensation for the injuries they have sustained through workers' compensation insurance. Typically, the injured employee is expected to file a claim with the employer following their work-related injury, upon which investigations are carried out and benefits paid out to the injured victim. However, the employer may put a defense in order to block the filed compensation claim. Here are the possible legal defenses against workers' compensation available to employers.
Failure to serve your employer with an injury notice
Under compensation law, injured workers should serve their employers with notification of their injuries within a specific deadline, normally just a few months. Notice ought to be given to the employer either in writing or verbally.
Self-Inflicted Injuries
Injuries inflicted by the plaintiffs themselves do not qualify for compensation. For example, injuries inflicted by the plaintiff deliberately to file a dishonest claim or injuries from a skirmish that the plaintiff started.
No causal connection to employment
There ought to be some causal connection to employment in order for the injured employee to get compensation. One of the typical workers' compensation defense cited by employers is to argue that the injuries sustained by the employee are not linked to employment activities. A factory employee, for example, gets a small scrape on his finger but ignores to properly take care of the injury. The finger suffers infection and ultimately has to be chopped off. In such a case, the employee would not be entitled for coverage.
Failure to honor doctor appointments
An independent medical check-up is involved, and serves to ascertain the victim's claim and decide on the sum of benefits required. If the injured employee doesn't show up for the appointments, then this may be used a legal defense to block their claim or even reduce the amount in compensation.
Willful negligence
Most workplaces, if not all, have safety rules and practices. If an employee violates these defined safety rules or performs work activities under the influence of drugs and alcohol, any consequent injuries may not be covered under workers' compensation coverage. More often than not, both the employer and the worker may have contrasting accounts of which side was really careless. Employers may cite willful negligence as a workers' compensation legal defense if the injuries sustained by the plaintiff are due to carelessness or horseplay.
When faced with a workers' compensation claim, employers should seek the legal services of compensation lawyers like Bell Lawyers to devise any of the above-mentioned possible defenses in order to nullify the claim.
