Recently, it has become more common for today’s employees to work from home for at least part of the work week. Working from home is also called telecommuting. It can have huge benefits for an employee who has a flexible schedule and saves on transportation costs. The employer also saves because it does not need to maintain a physical workspace.
Despite the flexibility, home-based employees may wonder if their home office is covered for workers’ compensation benefits. The answer is, potentially.
If an injury occurs from performing the tasks required by your job, you will be covered by workers’ compensation benefits. It won’t matter if you were doing the work from home or from somewhere else. If an injury occurs while performing your job duties and you can prove it happened that way, then you can file a workers’ compensation claim.
It is important to note that it will be more difficult for telecommuters to prove a workers’ compensation claim than it is for someone who works in an office. This makes it important for an employee who works from home to keep detailed records to explain his work and to show how it is separated from his social and individual time. Of course, for employees who need to meet clients and entertain may find this line blurred.
Even if you work as a salesperson who spends much of your hours entertaining customers and building a relationship, you must be covered for injuries sustained while working. If a salesperson takes a customer out to dinner to finalize a business deal and then has a car accident on the way back to their home office, they should be able to file for workers’ compensation. It shouldn’t matter that the home office is also your private residence.
For someone who works from home, it would be beneficial to keep a daily log of tasks performed that are related to work. A simple journal that describes all the accomplishments of the workday. This will help in the future if a work injury attorney needs to assess the circumstances of the injury.
Clearly defining the workday and what is included will help differentiate between tasks that were for personal reasons and tasks related to work. Although it is more difficult to prove that it is definitely possible to collect workers’ compensation after a head office injury.