Remote work was all the rage during the COVID lockdowns because it promoted social distancing. Since emerging from the pandemic, many companies continue to offer remote work as an option because there are sensible reasons for doing so. The ability to work from home is attractive to many people, especially young parents who want to be close to their children. Also, remote jobs make a larger applicant pool available.
What happens if you were injured while working remotely? Can you receive workers’ compensation benefits? In this article, our Arizona workers’ compensation attorneys provide an overview of the key legal considerations and encourage you to reach out to Snow, Carpio & Weekley, PLC, if you have questions.
How Popular is Remote Work?
It has increased in popularity. Remote work is any type of work that takes place outside of your normal office or jobsite. For example, traveling to visit clients is remote work, as is participating in conferences or road shows.
Not all remote jobs are work from home, but this is an increasingly popular option, especially for professional or administrative jobs which rely primarily on a computer. Employers have realized that there’s no reason why workers can’t be sitting at home and working if all they do is type on a computer.
According to Forbes, 20% of all workers are currently working remotely. Not surprisingly, the most popular industries are those that rely heavily on computer work, such as IT, accounting, marketing, and recruiting. Other industries relying on remote work include sales and project management.
Upwork estimates that roughly 33 million people will be working remotely by 2025, with the numbers continuing to rise from there. We aren’t surprised. Other surveys show that 98% of workers say they would like the option to at least work part of the time remotely.
Increasingly, entire companies are remote: about 1 in 6. But even more traditional employers have begun to incorporate remote work, including companies which offer a “flexible” or “hybrid remote” option.
What Accidents Are Covered Remotely?
Provided you are working, then any injury should be covered by workers’ compensation. It doesn’t matter if you are not on your employer’s property.
For this reason, people are often injured while driving for a job. This doesn’t include coming into the office from home or driving back home from the office. However, if your boss requires that you make deliveries, then your car accident can be covered.
Injuries at home might include:
- Carpal tunnel or repetitive motion injuries. Many work-from-home jobs involve sitting at a computer for hours on end. You can easily suffer a repetitive motion injury like carpal tunnel, tennis elbow, or bursitis. This type of injury is covered by workers’ compensation, even if you are injured while working at home.
- Burns from exploding equipment. If your computer catches on fire and burns you, then you could be covered as a work injury.
- Lower back injuries. As we age, many people lose strength in abdominal muscles. Consequently, they suffer lower back injuries. Sitting for hours on end makes the condition worse. This type of injury should be covered even if you work from home.
- Slip and falls. If your home is your office, then you could be covered if you slip and fall at home. For example, you might go to the door to greet a client who has visited you and slip along the way. You might even be covered if you are taking a break during the day and slip at home. Since your home is considered your office, any fall during a break should be work related.
These are some common accidents. There might be others, depending on your circumstances. Give us a call to speak with an Arizona workers’ compensation lawyer about what happened.
Key Considerations for Remote Work & Workers’ Compensation
Work from home accidents raise unique questions. For example, we want to know whether your employer has approved or required your work from home. Those facts could make a difference in whether your claim is approved.
Suppose you work as an administrative assistant and go into the office for 40 hours a week. You have a little extra work left to do on Friday afternoon, so you take it home. While working on Saturday afternoon in your dining room, you step into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee but end up falling and hitting your head.
Is this accident covered by workers’ compensation in Arizona?
Maybe not. For one thing, your employer might not know you are working from home. Instead, you chose to take work home to do it there because you didn’t get everything done at the office. Your employer might expect you to stay late at the office to finish your projects.
We want to see whether your employer approved you to work from home that day or gave you general permission to work at home whenever you needed. If so, then your accident is likely covered.
Let us review the facts. With workers’ compensation cases, there is often no clear “black and white” answer. Instead, we need to know more about your work arrangements. Never assume you don’t have a case, but still get expert legal advice.
Reach Out to Speak with Our Legal Team
Workers’ compensation provides critical benefits to injured workers. In addition to receiving free medical care, you might also qualify for wage loss benefits. Someone with serious, long-lasting injuries could receive thousands of dollars. This is critical income for injured workers who still have bills to pay.
Contact Snow, Carpio & Weekley, PLC. We have helped many people qualify for workers’ comp. Because each case is different, you should receive an individualized case assessment from an experienced law firm. If you hire us, we can also help bring a claim or appeal a denial. Give us a call at (877) 370-5788.
Although the nature of the workplace might change, we still provide the same high-quality legal representation to those hurt on the job that we have for decades.