In this video, we are going to discuss the question of “how do I qualify for workers’ compensation benefits in California?” My name is Matt Eason. I have been practicing employment and workers’ compensation rights here in the Sacramento area for over 25 years, and one of the questions we get asked right out of the block is, “how do I qualify for workers compensation?”
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What is different between workers’ compensation and state disability or Social Security is in workers’ compensation, the question really boils down to did you suffer an injury that arose out of and in the course of your employment? Suffering the injury part usually is not the controversial issue. You have something wrong with you, or you would not be asking these questions. The bigger question really is, did your injury or did your illness arise out of and in the course of employment. In plain English, did your job cause it or contribute to your injury.
Generally speaking, if you were injured on the job where you bent over to pick something up, and then your back gave out, or you were hit by a forklift or fell at a construction site, those are easy questions that the injury arose out of in the course of employment. More complicated questions often have to do with when you suffer a heart attack. Well, was that caused by your job, was that hereditary or was it something else?
A similar challenge with determining if an injury arose out of employment has to do with car accidents. Generally speaking, driving to and from work as an ordinary commute is not compensable; however, a motor vehicle accident would potentially arise out of the course of employment if you were carrying tools or driving an errand for your employer.
In short, if you believe you’ve been injured and your injury arose from your employment, then we hope you will consider reaching out to one of the Sacramento Workers Compensation lawyers in our office to help you determine if that qualifies you for workers’ compensation. My name, again, is Matt Eason. I am with the law firm of Eason & Tambornini.
