When most people in Bridgeport think about workers’ compensation, they usually think of someone getting hurt in the course of his or her work. Whether it is a construction worker falling off scaffolding or someone developing back problems from lifting a box of copy paper, workers’ compensation provides an important protection to employees in Connecticut who are hurt on the job. Workers’ compensation, however, also protects employees who are hurt in freak accidents while on an employer’s property or during the course of the work day.
Take the story of an out-of-state woman who was leaving her employer’s parking lot at the end of her work day. She had almost completely left the parking lot, in fact all but her bumper was in the street, when her car was hit. Though her employer has said that she should not receive workers’ compensation, an appellate court has recently ruled that because she hadn’t left her employer’s property, she was eligible.
It is true that this story did not happen in Connecticut and that a Connecticut court may take a different approach to the case, but the story highlights an important point: workers’ compensation is not limited to injuries that the employer could have reasonably foreseen would happen. It is not just those injuries or accidents that might normally pop up in a workplace that make someone eligible, but any injuries suffered during the workday.
The woman who was injured was originally awarded workers’ compensation benefits in May 2013, but the employer later appealed.
Source: USA Today, “Casino dealer wins workers’ comp fight by a foot,” Jim Walsh, Jan. 22, 2014
