In some cases, injuries from a car accident will not qualify for workers’ comp benefits. An example of this is if you get in an accident while driving as part of your commute. When you are driving to the office to clock in or driving home after you clocked out, you are on personal time. If you get into an accident while commuting, it generally does not count as a workplace accident.
That being said, car accidents are a major reason why employees get injured every year, and many employees actually do qualify for workers’ comp benefits. Let’s look at three examples of how this could happen.
Driving as a profession
Of course, some employees have to drive as part of the job itself. Maybe they work as a delivery driver for a local hardware store, for example. Car accidents are one of the most common injury risks that they face and will usually qualify as workplace accidents.
Driving between worksites
Another example is when an employee has to drive from one worksite to another. They are still on the clock while doing this. An example could be a plumber’s assistant who is working on one job but who gets assigned to another location after lunch and has to drive across town. Injuries suffered while switch sites would qualify.
Doing a special mission
Finally, though commuting accidents usually don’t count, they can if the employee was given a special mission to carry out. For instance, perhaps the CEO contacted the employee and told them to bring in coffee for the entire office. Because the employee was given a work-related job to do during their commute, if they get injured in an accident, they should receive workers’ comp benefits.
As you can see, cases like this can get complicated. Injured parties must know about all of their legal options.
