In Virginia, employers with more than two employees are required to have workers’ compensation insurance. Sometimes, however, a company breaks the law and doesn’t have workers’ compensation insurance like it is supposed to. What happens if you get injured at work and your job doesn’t have workers’ comp insurance?
My Job Has Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Usually, when you are injured at work, the workers’ compensation insurance company for your job will accept or deny the claim that you and your HammondTownsend attorney submit. After the back-and-forth with the insurance company, which may include an evidentiary hearing, deposition, or alternative dispute resolution, you, the insurance company, and the state will have agreed on what benefits you deserve. The insurance company will pay you the benefits you are owed for your injury at work. Your job pays the insurance company to handle workers’ compensations cases for them and the insurance company takes care of paying you.
The benefits that the insurance company may pay you may include money for not being able to work the same type of job as you did before the injury, money for not being able to work at all after the injury, money for death benefits for the family of someone who has died, paying for medical bills, and other similar types of compensation.
My Job Does Not Have Workers’ Compensation Insurance
If your job doesn’t have workers’ compensation insurance like it is supposed to, the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission has an Uninsured Employers’ Fund (UEF) to provide the money. The UEF will pay for the benefits you are entitled to, such as temporary partial disability, temporary total disability, permanent partial disability, permanent total disability, death benefits paid to family members of workers who died due to injuries at work, and payment for medical bills. Even if your job doesn’t have workers’ compensation insurance, you still qualify for regular workers’ compensation benefits.
Your employer will have to pay penalties for not having the right insurance coverage and will have to pay the money back to the UEF. The UEF makes sure that you get the money that you deserve. The UEF is paid for by an assessment (tax) of 0.15% on the premiums that companies pay for workers’ compensation insurance.
If your job doesn’t have workers’ compensation insurance, you will still need to follow the same first three steps: telling your employer, telling a doctor, and calling HammondTownsend. HammondTownsend will work with the state of Virginia to make sure that you have the compensation that you deserve.