| Employee Detours and Deviations From Business Trip |
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| Employees may be called upon by their employer to travel for a business purpose. Such travel is generally considered to be in the course of employment and, if injured, the employee will be entitled to workers' compensation benefits. However, if the employee deviates from the business trip route for a personal reason, he will not be covered by workers' compensation until he returns to the business trip route. Notably, if the deviation is basically inconsequential, the employee may still recover benefits if injured on the minor detour. More... |
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| Loaned Employees |
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| Responsibility for the payment of workers' compensation benefits is a joint affair when one employer loans its employee to another employer. If the employee is a party to a contract for hire with the third-party employer, the work performed by the employee is principally for the third-party employer, and the third-party employer controls the details of the employee's work, the third-party employer will be held responsible for workers' compensation benefits should the employee become injured. The element of control is a substantial factor is determining the employment relationship between the parties. More... |
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| Issue of "Time" in "By Accident" Concept |
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| Generally, for those jurisdictions adhering to the requirement of injury "by accident" for the injury to be compensable, there is an element of time. Basically, not only must the injury be "accidental" but also the causative event must be fairly identifiable as to time. It has been the general consensus among these jurisdictions that the time element is satisfied if either the event that caused the injury or the resulting injury itself was sudden. The time of the event that caused the injury is sufficiently definite if pinpointed to a span of several hours or days. As for the resulting injury, "suddenness" can include a gradual effect on the worker's body that ends with an injury that is clearly identifiable as to date. More... |
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| Immunity From Third Party Actions |
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| When a worker is injured during the course of his employment, he may sometimes seek a common law recovery from the third party whose action or inaction caused the injury. Depending upon the jurisdiction, immunity from such a third party action may be extended to the employer or co-employees. More... |
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| Compensation for Black Lung Claims |
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| The Black Lung Benefits Act covers total disability claims of United States' miners suffering from pneumoconiosis (aka black lung disease), which was contracted due to their employment. Such miners are awarded monthly cash benefits as well as medical benefits. Payments to dependent survivors are also provided for in the Act and include the surviving spouse, children, and dependent parents and siblings. More... |
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