Study Guide on Workers' Compensation and Employer's Liability

Overview of Endorsements and Workers' Compensation

Endorsements

  • Types of Endorsements:
    • Voluntary Compensation Endorsement
    • Maritime Government's Endorsement
    • Longshoremen and Armed Workers Act Endorsement
    • Out of Continental Shelf Act Endorsement

Essential Details About Workers' Compensation

  • Employee Rights:
    • The insured employee must accept benefits.
    • The employer is required to furnish those benefits.
    • If the employer fails to provide benefits, the employee has the right to sue.
  • Loss of Defenses:
    • If an employer does not furnish benefits, they lose three common law defenses:
    1. Tributary Negligence
    2. Assumption of Risk
    3. Fellow Servant Rule

Key Concepts in Workers' Compensation

  • Employer-Employee Relationship:
    • It's crucial to understand the nature of the employer-employee relationship for claim eligibility.
  • Statutory Employee Definition:
    • A statutory employee is defined within workers' compensation laws and must be understood clearly.
  • No-fault Compensation:
    • Workers' compensation benefits are paid regardless of fault, meaning blame does not affect eligibility.
    • No exclusion for "stupidity"—even if negligence or poor decision-making is involved, benefits still apply except in specific circumstances.
  • Scope of Coverage:
    • All employees are covered under the workers' compensation statute in all states, with no fellow employee exclusions.

Compensable Accidents

  • Criteria for an Accident to be Compensable:
    • The accident must arise out of and occur in the course of employment.
    • Non-compensable accidents occur if not meeting this criterion.
  • Influence of Drug or Alcohol Use:
    • If illegal drug or alcohol use causes the accident, recovery is barred.
    • Example scenario:
    • A person on break, consuming drugs while seated at a bench, suffers an accident where a board falls on them as opposed to their drug use (statistically falling outside of employment responsibilities).

Employer's Liability Insights

  • Scope of Employer's Liability:
    • Covers bodily injury only—no property damage is included.
  • Types of Claims under Employer's Liability:
    • Third-party over action claims
    • Loss of consortium claims
    • Consequential bodily injury
    • Disability capacity claims
  • Test Preparation:
    • Emphasis on understanding the content from the initial slides; aids in preparing for test questions derived from the first slides.
  • Workers' Compensation Policy:
    • General statement: "We'll pay all sums the law requires us to pay". Little complexity exists with the policy itself, except for item 3C and employer's liability details.

Test Information

  • Format:
    • Test will consist of 20 multiple-choice questions.
    • This will be the last test before the final exam of the semester.
  • Feedback and Assistance:
    • Instructor available for questions via text, email, or phone from now until Tuesday morning.

Future Topics

  • Upcoming Content:
    • Management Liability and Insurance will be introduced, highlighting its importance.