It is safe to say life is hard enough running your own business, adding a work injury makes life more complicated. So, who is responsible for compensation for such damage? Well, that depends on the situation.
We would need to determine who is considered an independent contractor and who is considered an employee. Depending on this determination, we can conclude what type of case should be pursued.
Independent contractors are those who have all the freedom and control over scheduling of services and how services are executed. This includes but is not limited to the tools purchased used to complete the task, and significant reimbursement for expenses related to the job.
Employees are those who do not possess control over when to begin working and how to perform their tasks. Usually, individuals who receive benefits such as paid time off 401k plans, and health insurance through employers are considered employees.
With this in mind, we need to also consider that independent contractors hold responsibility over self-employment taxes from earnings, meanwhile employees do not.
Once classification has been clearly established, you can look at work-injury compensation through a different perspective. Either it is eligible for a workers’ compensation case or should be filed under a personal injury claim.
When an independent contractor is not able to file a workman’s compensation claim, they can aim to file a personal injury claim under the right circumstances. This means that the individual will first need to prove that the owner of the property on which duties were performed acted in negligence thus causing preventable injury.
To find out more information or to speak to one of our independent contractor classification attorneys regarding a potential case. Give us a call at 888-514-5112