Will Workers’ Compensation Help Me If I Retired Long Ago?
Workers’ compensation insurance should provide benefits if you have a work-related illness or injury. Most asbestos-related diseases are work-related, but these laws generally have a short time frame for you to file a claim. Given it may take three to five decades to be diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease, workers’ comp may not be an option.
However, thanks to recent court decisions, people in Illinois and Pennsylvania may be able to bypass workers’ compensation and file a legal claim against their former employer to seek compensation for the harm their conditions have caused.
What is Workers’ Compensation?
This state law-required system can help you if you’re injured or made sick while working, according to The Hartford. If your claim succeeds, it should pay your treatment expenses and part of your lost income. You could qualify for a lump sum payment if you’re permanently injured on the job. If you’re killed on the job, your next of kin may qualify for survivors’ benefits.
Employers must carry workers’ compensation insurance in most states, while some allow employers to self-insure. You file your claim with your employer, who may reject it. If so, get legal help to move your claim forward.
Generally, employees receive workers’ compensation benefits whether they, management, or neither are at fault. Employees who violate a widely known safety rule or policy and get hurt risk being denied benefits. You also may not get benefits if you’re intoxicated or impaired at work due to alcohol or illegal drug use.
If a third party is to blame, like a non-employee driver, causes an accident, or a supplier sells your company a defective tool that injures you, you may be able to bring a personal injury accident lawsuit against them. If your employer intentionally harms you, you may bring a legal claim against them.
These statutes state this system is the “exclusive” process for you to get benefits from your employer for an on-the-job injury or illness. But whether that will block your ability to sue your employer (or ex-employer) depends on the statute, how state courts interpret it, and the facts of your situation.
Who Pays for Workers’ Comp Insurance?
Your employer pays their insurance company for workers’ comp insurance coverage. You don’t pay for coverage directly. But the higher the cost, it may leave less money available for your pay or restrict your ability to get a raise. You don’t have co-pays when you receive treatment for work-related injuries or illnesses.
How Do I Get Benefits?
Depending on your situation, the claims process can be simple or complex. It varies depending on the facts of the case and from state to state. Generally, you must report a work-related injury or illness to your employer within a given timeframe. You risk being rejected for coverage if you go beyond this time limit.
After you do so, your employer should report it to their insurance carrier. What happens from there varies from state to state. Your state’s workers’ compensation board’s involvement may be minimal. They may only get involved if the parties disagree on essential issues and can’t work out a compromise. That can include whether you qualify for benefits, the degree of your limitations, or your medical care.
Who is Covered by Workers’ Compensation?
Employees are covered. How many there are and how dangerous their tasks influence the cost of employers’ premiums.
Some break the law and falsely claim employees are independent contractors, so they need not purchase coverage and avoid paying various taxes, breaking many laws. Whether you’re legally an employee or not depends on how you perform your work and applicable state law, not on what label your employer applies to you.
Someone injured on the job who was misclassified as an independent contractor can go through the workers’ compensation system to challenge an employer’s claim about their status, or they can file a personal injury lawsuit against their employer.
Why Might Workers’ Compensation Not Cover Asbestos-Related Disease Claims?
Workers’ compensation laws cover those suffering from work-related diseases. They’re usually caused by exposure to a toxic substance or pathogen that gets on or in the worker. The person may immediately become ill, or it may take time before symptoms appear.
Your state’s workers’ compensation laws have a deadline of a certain number of years to file for benefits after your last exposure. It may take decades for you to be diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease like asbestosis, mesothelioma, or lung cancer. By then, that deadline has passed.
Illinois and Pennsylvania state supreme courts have ruled that if an ex-employee was diagnosed after that deadline, and there’s no other part of the law extending the deadline for their disease, since workers’ comp is no longer an option, a worker made ill by something like asbestos can sue their former employer for negligently allowing their illness to develop. This may apply to you, depending on your state’s laws and the facts of your situation.
Call Us Today For A Free Consultation
We are your boots on the ground if you or someone you love suffers from mesothelioma or an asbestos-related illness in Kentucky, Illinois, or Pennsylvania. To set up a free initial consultation with an experienced lawyer at our firm, call our Louisville office at 502-589-5600 (toll-free at 855-385-9532) or contact us online.
If you are in Pennsylvania and have an asbestos-related disease, see our Pennsylvania mesothelioma lawyers page.