Your Employees’ Workers’ Comp Claims Impact You, Too

Workers’ compensation insurance is necessary if you own a business and have one or more employees. If one of your workers is hurt on the job, workers’ comp will pay their medical expenses and, in some cases, a disability benefit. This saves you from having to cover the costs from your company coffers.

However, this doesn’t mean an employee’s workers’ comp claim doesn’t impact your business or its bottom line. Understanding how a claim could affect your business — and how workers’ compensation defense lawyers can help — is vital for preparing for inevitable workplace accidents and protecting your interests.

5 Ways a Workers’ Comp Claim Can Affect Your Business

Employees can suffer workplace injuries or illnesses in numerous ways. Regardless of the specific facts of your worker’s incident and resulting claim, you can ensure you’re ready to handle it by anticipating the following possibilities.

1. Your Insurance Premiums Will Increase

Workers’ compensation insurance shares many similarities with other forms of insurance. One of the most significant is that your premium is partly based on your risk of loss. The greater the risk of loss you present to your insurer, the higher your premium will be.

Your insurer will likely look at each workers’ comp claim filed as evidence of elevated risk. In their eyes, the fact that multiple employees have filed claims means there’s a high likelihood that other workers will experience workplace injuries.

Consequently, while you may not have to pay for an injured worker’s medical or disability expenses directly, you’ll pay for the additional risk your business presents.

2. You Could End Up Paying Other Employees More

Unless the injured employee is integral to your business, your operations will likely continue while they recover. Their inability to work their scheduled shifts will force other employees to step up and carry the burden. In doing so, you may be forced to pay those other employees for additional shifts or overtime.

For example, imagine that you depend on 10 employees to produce 100 units of product throughout a regular shift.

If one of your employees were injured, you’d be left with nine workers who must still produce 100 units. For the remaining workers to succeed, you may need to pay one or more of them to perform extra work and finish the necessary units.

Sometimes, saddling your employees with additional work won’t be feasible, or your injured worker may be the only employee you have. In these and similar situations, the continuity of your operations depends on your readiness to hire a temporary worker. This, too, will require you to pay additional wages.

3. You May Owe Your Injured Worker Additional Wages

Your employee’s workers’ comp claim will pay them disability benefits if they cannot return to work for a specific period. However, this may not be the totality of benefits your employee is due. If they’ve accumulated benefits like paid time off, you may be forced to grant them on top of their workers’ comp benefits.

Your workers’ compensation defense lawyers can further educate you about your obligations and rights regarding additional pay and benefits.

4. Repairing Your Worksite Could Cost You

An injured employee might not be the only negative outcome of a workplace accident. The event could also result in damaged property or equipment, requiring you to repair or replace these items before work can resume. Whether you have insurance or not, you can expect there to be some cost associated with fixing whatever was damaged.

Beyond that, damaged equipment and machinery can lead to production delays, compounding your losses as you struggle to keep up with your customers’ demands. The longer you remain offline and unable to fulfill orders, the more severe your losses will be as your customers look elsewhere for goods and services.

5. The Government May Impose Fines

Just because your employee obtains workers’ comp benefits doesn’t mean you’re absolved from all responsibilities. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OHSA) and other relevant agencies could decide to conduct a separate investigation into how the accident occurred.

If such an investigation reveals workplace safety rules violations, you could face fines and penalties on top of the previously mentioned costs. These can run into thousands of dollars, and the agency can require you to pay them even if your employee’s negligence was the primary cause of their accident.

How to Mitigate Your Risk of Loss From Workplace Accidents

Telling your injured employees not to file workers’ comp claims or threatening them with adverse employment actions if they do isn’t an effective mitigation strategy. Actions like these can create a whole host of additional issues for your business that can be far more costly than if you had simply paid out a workers’ comp claim.

Instead, it’s wise to consult a qualified team of workers’ compensation defense lawyers and implement the following measures, which can help you reduce the financial impact of workers’ comp claims on your business:

• Ensure that your insurer has accurate information about your workforce
• Prioritize safety in the workplace, and hold regular safety trainings
• Educate your employees on what to do following a workplace injury
• Submit any claims and fulfill all legal responsibilities promptly

While you’ll want to bring the injured worker back as soon as practical, don’t force or attempt to convince them to return before their doctor has cleared them for work. However, once they’ve been given the green light, getting them back to work quickly can help offset some of the losses you incurred due to their absence.

Finally, use the services workers’ compensation defense lawyers offer to address fraudulent workers’ comp claims. A knowledgeable attorney can help prevent employees from taking advantage of benefits they aren’t legally entitled to, thereby protecting your business.

Don’t Underestimate the Potential Cost of Workers’ Comp Claims

While you can’t prevent all workplace accidents, promoting a culture of safety can help reduce the likelihood of one occurring.

When an incident does occur, it’s crucial to fulfill your responsibilities promptly and appropriately to avoid damaging legal repercussions. Allowing your injured employee to return to work as soon as they’re ready can further reduce the effect their accident has on your bottom line.

Workers’ compensation defense lawyers can be indispensable for differentiating valid and fraudulent comp claims. In this way, your attorneys can insulate your business against the effects of baseless claims.