Michiganders head to work ready to start their day, usually never considering if they might get injured on the job. Unfortunately, workplace accidents still happen even though employers have a responsibility to ensure their employees have a safe working environment.
Failure to uphold this responsibility can have them liable for resulting accidents.
If you or someone you know has suffered harm in the workplace, your journey to recovering workers' compensation benefits should start with understanding employee rights and responsibilities in workplace safety.
Employee Rights
The Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970 stipulates employees' right to a safe working environment, with the responsibility of providing such an environment lying squarely on the employer. The law doesn't stop at that; it stipulates what workers can do to ensure their safety.
Under the Act, workers can file a confidential complaint with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) if there are safety guideline violations, and they have a right to receive information on OSHA standards and training on safety.
They also have a right to access documents relating to an employer's safety history, copies of their medical records for workplace-related incidents, participate in inspections, and the right to talk privately with inspectors without any fear of retaliation.
Employer Responsibility
Employers are responsible for ensuring a safe working environment by exercising reasonable diligence to ensure safety. Also, they must abide by OSHA's workplace safety and health guidelines. Under OSHA guidelines, employers must prominently display OSHA posters that describe employee rights and employer responsibility in safety. They must also offer safety training in a language understandable to the employees, keep records of workplace accidents, and report incidents to OSHA.
Any accidents resulting from an employer's failure to uphold their responsibility can have them liable for damages, which can mean monetary compensation for the victim.
Worker Compensation Insurance Requirements in Michigan
Most employers in Michigan are required by law to carry workers' compensation insurance. Employers in the agricultural sector may be exempt from carrying worker compensation insurance, but in limited cases.
Worker compensation insurance applies on a no-fault basis, meaning a worker has a right to compensation for harm suffered in the workplace.
However, there are some limitations to the no-fault approach. For example, if the injury was intentionally self-inflicted, the employee was intoxicated at the time of the accident, or where the employee was engaged in an obviously dangerous activity, that would suggest they assumed the risk.
Recoverable Damages under Worker Comp Insurance
Recoverable damages are limited to economic damages, which are essentially monetary expenses and losses resulting from an accident, such as lost wages, medical expenses, cost of buying living aid, and home or vehicle modifications occasioned by resulting injuries.
Michigan worker compensation laws are straightforward by design, but it is not always so in application, meaning you may have to involve a worker compensation lawyer if you feel you are not getting what you deserve. It doesn't cost anything to know the difference involving a lawyer will make in your cases because most lawyers do not charge consultation fees for the initial consultation, and a lawyer can give you a relatively close prediction of what to expect.
