Respond to a Workers' Compensation Incident

• An employer needs to act quickly when alerted to potential workers' compensation incidents. The insurance provider is likely to have a notification clause in its policy, requiring the employer to notify it within a certain period of time after becoming aware of the incident. In most cases, the employer may also need to notify the state workers' compensation board.
• Compensation for the employee may include medical benefits and wage replacement, depending on the severity of the employee's injury or illness.
• An employer should consider conducting its own investigation after an incident that gives rise to an injury, illness or death. The results of this investigation may enable the employer to identify dangerous conditions in the workplace or dispute the employee's claim based on a number of factors like independent contractor status, intoxication at the time of the incident, accidents during the employee's commute or incidents during social or athletic events that are not required parts of the employee's job.

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