When you suffer a serious on-the-job injury, you may look to your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance to provide you with the money you need to secure medical care and recover. Tennessee’s workers’ compensation law requires most employers to provide coverage for employees’ work-related injuries. This is generally true regardless of how those injuries occurred.
Under Tennessee’s workers’ compensation law, it typically does not matter if your employer was responsible for your injury, if you were, if one of your coworkers was or if it happened entirely by accident. In other words, in most cases, personal negligence has no bearing on you receiving compensation for your work-related injury.
Claim reporting guidelines
When you suffer an injury at work, your employer has an obligation to report the injury to its insurance carrier within a particular timeframe. Your employer has an obligation to report any injuries that required outside medical treatment or resulted in death. Your employer also must report injuries that led to an absence from work or permanent impairment. Employers should not pay for any employee medical treatment until they report the work injury to their insurance carriers.
Workers’ compensation insurance guidelines
Most Tennessee employers have an obligation to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Employers that must do so include those in construction and the trades. Employers in the coal mining industry that have at least one employee must also maintain insurance coverage. All other Tennessee employers that have five or more people working under them must also have workers’ compensation insurance coverage.
When you experience an injury at work, notify your employer right away. There may be strict deadlines you or your employer must meet to get you coverage.
