Professional drivers don’t just include people behind the wheel of a stock car. As we’ve all recently shifted our understanding of essential workers, we see that many of them spend most of the day traveling for their job. We’re not talking about sitting in a two-hour commute every day. In fact, what we’re talking about is people that drive as a major function of their position.
Amazon drivers, FedEx delivery persons, and more spend a good amount of their day, on-the-clock, and behind-the-wheel. So what happens when your appliance delivery person gets into an accident? Is it a matter of car insurance or a matter for workers’ compensation? Many are surprised to realize that it’s often a blend of both. Workers’ compensation does cover drivers when they’re on the clock. Contact our Charlotte workers compensation attorneys today for more information.
Workers Compensation Claims Don’t Always Revolve Around Liability
There’s a lot of misinformation available about how workers’ compensation claims actually work. What typically happens is that a person is injured on the job, and then they file a claim. The belief of the general public is that those claims are never fought or denied. The general belief is that every employer owes this degree of coverage to their employees.
However, there is a lot of liability that’s around worker’s compensation. Should an employer have to pay through worker’s compensation for medical treatment if the employee was blatantly non-compliant with safety policies and procedures? For example, what if a FedEx driver was joking around within the warehouse and stood on a conveyor belt? It’s clearly an unsafe practice, it clearly violates company policy, and what would happen in most cases similar to this is that the worker’s compensation would deny the claim.
Now worker’s compensation isn’t always about liability in terms of safety procedures. Most employers that have procedures for driving behavior simply state “to drive safely.” So why have a dashcam?
Fight Claims of Distraction and Prove Company Policy Problems
Dashcams can help resolve questions of company policy compliance, and secure that the employee was acting in the best interest of safety. For example, in a dashcam, a catch is that the driver was swerving in and out of their Lane. It may open up the question of whether they were compliant with the companies drug and alcohol policy.
Usually, professional drivers face unique struggles when it comes to worker’s compensation. They’re the ones that have to go above and beyond to prove that they were compliant with all these different policies, usually without any evidence. There’s also the opportunity to prove company policy problems.
What happens if the injuries are a direct result of company policy. Drivers with worker’s compensation claims can include anything for injuries that happened during a crash to injuries that happen within the vehicle and a broad scope of injuries in between. A dashcam doesn’t necessarily have to point at the road in front of you.
Determine When To Take Action for Injuries
Whether your injuries happened because of an on-the-clock crash or something happening in a warehouse, you need to take action. The first initial step is always to file a report for the injury. That report is mandatory workers compensation insurance providers require it, as does the law in North Carolina. Making that report as early as possible can be vital if you have to move forward with legal action for worker’s compensation.
Now, if you receive a denial or a really low claim offer, it’s time to call North Carolina workers compensation attorneys and get someone involved.
Professional Drivers Need Legal Support Too – Find a North Carolina Car Accident Attorney Now
Using a dashcam or other similar video recording devices within your company vehicle can be a good idea. However, you need to ensure that it complies with company policy. It’s company policy does not permit you to record the activity that happens within the cab of the vehicle, the equipment which is often responsible for injury, or the road in front of or behind you; you might question why there are these restrictions. Many companies are turning to dashcams not only for car accident instances but also for possible worker’s compensation claims.
A dashcam is only one device and one source of evidence that could help your workers’ compensation claim. What you can do is to proactively work with a North Carolina workers compensation attorney to gather all the evidence necessary for a strong workers comp case. It can be really discouraging to learn that your claim was denied or severely devalued. The good news is you can fight a denial or a really low settlement offer.