Work Related Injuries from a Home Office
Question:
I have “virtual” employees who don’t spend all their work time in the office. How do I know if an employee’s injury is work related if they work out of their home?
Answer:
This is one of the big challenges that employers face when they allow their employees the opportunity to work from home. Overall, injuries and illness that occur while an employee is working at home is considered work related (and thus compensable) if the illness or injury occurs while the employee is performing work for pay in the home and the injury or illness is directly related to the performance of work. These type of injuries cannot be related to the general home environment (i.e faulty wiring, tripping on the carpet) but rather must be related to the performance of work.
What is a compensable injury? One might be an injury to a finger that was slammed in a filing cabinet drawer while filing papers for work. Another could be an injury to the foot due to a dropped heavy box (assuming the box was for work purposes and contained work materials). Proving how some of these injuries occurred in the home is a challenge because there is a lack of witnesses, and there is the inability to control the work environment to ensure adequate safety and housekeeping to prevent injuries. Creating policies for your employees to ensure they keep a professional, well-kept and safe work environment at home, as well as requiring them to report any work related injuries or illness immediately, is essential.
Strategic HR understands your concerns with the well-being of your employees. We offer expertise in health, safety and security to cover any need you may have from creating a communicable disease policy to developing a business resumption plan for handling unexpected emergencies. Please visit our Health, Safety & Security page for more information.
