Vehicle accidents involving large trucks, like tractor-trailers and semi-trucks, can happen anytime, anywhere, even to safe drivers with clean records. Sometimes truck accidents are caused by reckless drivers, but not always. In many cases, it’s the truck driver who is at fault.
Most accident injury victims hire a truck accident attorney and sue the trucking company. For example, the Demas Law Group has helped many people win generous compensation for their injuries and lost wages, among other things. However, the situation requires a little more care when a crash and/or injury takes place while you’re working.
If you’ve been injured in a truck accident while working, whether officially on the clock or not, your employer might be responsible for getting your medical bills covered. If this situation applies to you, here’s what you need to do next.
Talk to your employer first
The first thing you should do is talk to your employer about the situation. Ask them if you need to file a workers’ compensation claim through the company. Most employers are required to carry workers’ comp insurance and employees are required to file a claim rather than a lawsuit, but there are exceptions.
The only way to know if you need to file a workers’ comp claim is to talk to your employer, and if they don’t have answers for you, it won’t hurt to consult with an attorney to go over your case. Even if you can’t sue the at-fault driver, a consultation can give you helpful advice regarding the right steps.
If you can’t file for workers’ compensation, file a lawsuit
After talking to your employer, if you aren’t able to file a workers’ compensation claim for any reason, it’s time to file a lawsuit. When you sue the at-fault driver for your injuries directly, you’ll have a good chance at recovering more compensation than you’d receive through workers’ comp. Attorneys are skilled at winning financial compensation for their clients. They have the experience, expertise, and all the right legal tech tools to support them in winning cases and getting their clients paid.
Depending on your situation and how expensive your medical bills are, suing the other party could end up being exactly what you need to avoid your bills going to collection. If you’ve been out of work for a while, a lawsuit is the only chance you have to recover lost wages and other forms of compensation that you just can’t get through a workers’ comp claim.
Determine if your employer is responsible
It helps to know for sure if your employer is legally responsible for your truck accident. However, this is best determined by an attorney, so make sure you get a consultation.
It’s important to know that if you played any role in the accident, no matter how minor, that can lower the damages you receive from a lawsuit and it can also make your employer completely responsible for the accident. For example, if you broke a traffic law that led to your accident – like running a stoplight – you’ll probably be considered at fault, which means your employer will be legally responsible.
The most important factor that goes into determining employer responsibility is whether or not you were driving on behalf of the company in some capacity. If you were an employee at the time (not an independent contractor), acting within the scope of your employment, and doing something that would benefit your employer, then your employer will probably be held legally responsible for your truck accident.
This applies whether or not you were officially clocked in or not. For instance, if your employer expects you to run small errands after hours without clocking in,you’re still working.
Brace yourself for the consequences
Most likely, you can expect to be fired if you end up being found negligent and at-fault for your accident. If your employer has to pay out of pocket or use their insurance policy to cover the damages in a lawsuit, they’re not going to be happy. However, your injuries should be covered under a workers’ compensation insurance policy. If your employer has to pay out of pocket because they failed to get a legally-required workers comp policy, and they fire you, you might have legal recourse.
Either way, brace yourself for the potential of being fired and/or demoted, or placed on leave until the details of your situation are officially sorted out. To get peace of mind, contact an attorney to discuss your case, regardless of whether you’re filing a workers’ comp claim. An attorney will help you make the right move.