WORKERS COMPENSATION AND REMOTE EMPLOYEES!

Philadelphia, PA – The COVID pandemic was fraught with many challenges, including widespread hospitalizations, industry personnel shortages, work stoppages-shutdowns-closures, and worst of all, massive deaths. One positive that did emerge from the pandemic was the remote work from home option, a particular perk especially cheered by millennials and employees who are parents and adult caregivers of family members.

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During the pandemic, the workforce shutdown created this new viable remote work or telework option.?Remote work has become a popular perk and coveted bargaining chip for employers to incentivize and attract potential new hires.??Remote work saves employers huge overhead costs in office space.??“The research firm Global Workplace Analytics found that companies can save?up to $11,000 for every employee working two or three days remotely per week.” – Fortune.com

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that, “Among the 6 percent of establishments that reduced the square footage of their workplaces since the start of the pandemic,?63 percent?increased telework!”?Remote work is the new frontier of the modern-day workforce.

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There are other benefits and cost savings for employers to offer remote work options to employees, “Employers can hold interviews, training, meetings, and conferences in a virtual setting through internet and video. This provides drastic savings for businesses by?cutting back on travel expenses.”?- Ohio University MBA Program

For employers, they are realizing larger cost savings in the reduction of expenses associated with supplies, utilities, and other employee accommodations resulting from implementing a remote workforce.

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?“Contrary to the old belief that working from home will decrease productivity, recent statistics show more faith in telecommuters. Fifty-six percent believe that remote workers are just as productive as traditional workers, and 24 percent believe those who work from home are more productive than their counterparts. Compared to 1995 when 47 percent thought telecommuters could be productive, 58 percent now believe the same.”?

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“Studies show employees who work from home are 53 percent more likely than non-telecommuters to contribute more than 40 hours a week. On average, they put in five to seven hours longer than traditional workers.” -?Ohio University MBA Program

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National insurance firm Woodruff Sawyer referenced a survey by Pew Research Center that measured workers’ preference/prevalence for working remotely, “most workers who said their job responsibilities could be handled remotely never or rarely worked from home before the pandemic. Only one out of five survey respondents said they worked from home all or most of the time before COVID-19.” In a December 2020 survey, “71% of those workers were doing their job from home most of the time or all the time. And most of them admitted that they would want to keep working from home after the pandemic.”

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It's obvious that the post-pandemic birth of working remotely is cheered and enjoyed both by the employer and employees, but it does bring some unique challenges.?One of those challenges is workers compensation applied to injuries incurred while working remotely at home.?The ergonomics of your home are not controlled and planned like workspaces found in most office buildings and labor and manufacturing worksites.?

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For example, while working remotely, you trip over your beach chair at the beach and break your wrist trying to buffer your fall; you fall down the steps while washing a load of clothes while on a Zoom meeting; you accidently dropped your laptop on your bare feet and break your big toe, etc., such accidents can happen while working remotely.?But here’s the kicker, there’s no co-worker witnesses, so it’s the integrity and merit of an employee's lone testimony of their injury that the employer will have to evaluate for Workers Compensation claims.?So essentially, is it an honor system remote workers are being held to?

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It is a very serious offense to submit a false Workers Compensation insurance claim. Thorough investigations are done, and strict protocols and meticulous procedures are followed to determine the validity and culpability of Workers Compensation claims. Submitting false Workers Compensation insurance claims is a crime, and punishment can include immediate firing, punitive fines, a ruined reputation, and/or jail time!

"Penalties for workers facing a conviction for comp fraud are punishable by two to five years of jail time for felonies.?It may also include a fine of $150,000, or double the amount of the fraud, whichever is greater, and restitution to the employer and insurance company victimized by the fraud." - Buchanan, Williams & O'Brien Law Firm

Drinking alcohol, smoking legal recreational/medicinal weed, doing chores, and/or bad ergonomics of home furnishings are additional risk factors that are serious concerns for legal departments, human resources departments, and insurance providers regarding remote employees and Workers Compensation claims.

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I turned to leading experts to chime in on what Workers Compensation is and its validity and extent of coverage for remote workers, here’s what a few experts had to say…

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What is Workers Compensation??

• “Originally passed in 1915, the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act is a statewide, no-fault insurance system of benefits designed to compensate all injured workers for lost wages and medical expenses. It provides compensation for all injuries and occupational diseases that occur during the course and scope of one’s employment.” – Pond Lehocky?Law Firm

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Does workers compensation cover employees working remotely from home??

• “Yes.?Workers Compensation?(WC) is a statutory insurance coverage governed by the?Workers Compensation?Act and varies slightly from state to state and is overseen by each state’s insurance department.?Coverage applies for injuries sustained within the “course and scope” of the employee’s work.?Workers Compensation?benefits include: medical treatment that is reasonable, necessary and as a result of an?injury and indemnity benefits (wages) lost due the injury.”
• ?“WC insurance companies are challenged by the current trend of more employees working remotely in that they have little to no control over the “workplace” setting. Ergonomics, general safety and things like substance abuse. Additionally, the possibility of an injury occurring that is outside the course and scope of employment can occur and which is reported as a WC injury, i.e. a sprain or strain occurring while taking out the trash, shoveling snow, lawn/garden, etc. And, there is no other employee to witness the occurrence of the injury. Understand that an employee hurting themselves over the weekend and limping into work on a Monday only to claim the injury occurred on Monday versus Saturday afternoon is not new to WC insurers.”?- John V. Dormuth, MSIM, CPCU, ARM, Director of Industry Relations/Assistant Professor of Risk, Actuarial Science and Legal Studies at Fox School of Business/Temple University.?

?NOTE:?Temple University has one of the top ranked Risk Management business programs in America!

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Does workers compensation coverage apply if the remote employee is working from a place other than his/her home (i.e., beach, hotel, relative’s house, shopping mall, etc.)

• “Yes, it can. But again, what is work-related activity versus non-work-related activity??And it will vary by state.?Why is the employee at this location??Is it work-related versus vacation time??These facts will impact the outcome (of a submitted Workers Compensation claim). Has the employer approved the remote work? Any restrictions or conditions?”
• ?“Issues varies by state. Most state WC laws were written in the early 1900s and did not anticipate working from home.?The focus was workplace perils under the control of the employer.?The basis of WC laws is to provide non-fault coverage for injuries arising from accidents for occupational disease, as defined by the state’s WC laws and “arising out of and in the course of employment.”
• ?“Workers Compensation is no-fault insurance. The employee’s negligence is not an issue as long as the accident arose out of the course and scope of employment.?Employee gross negligence is a different story. But the employee must be prepared to explain that the accident arose from a work-related activity.”??
• ?“Insurance underwriters need to understand the nature of the remote work (office work versus more physically skilled labor) and the loss prevention and mitigation techniques in place to control the risk.?How much control does the employer exercise??What is the loss history??All these factors are considered by the underwriter when determining whether the insurer issues a policy and how much it will cost. (Or, whether the insurer will decline a policy, and/or claim.) -?M. Michael Zuckerman, J.D., M.B.A., A.C.I., Attorney and Associate Professor of Risk and Insurance Management at Temple University’s Fox School of Business.

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Remote workers are the new norm.?Employers and employees continue to clamor for it.?It’s the new chic.?“There are expected to be 36.2 million American employees working remotely by 2025. 40% of workers believe that they've been more productive while working at home during the pandemic, as opposed to the office.?16%?of U.S. companies are fully remote. Remote jobs now make up 15% of work opportunities in the United States.” – Zippia.com

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To remain competitive and cutting edge, employers must continue evaluating the feasibility, productivity, safety, legal, and emerging risk and human resources concerns associated with remote employees.?Will the rewards and benefits of remote work outweigh the risks and challenges that confront employers??Only time and experience will tell the true story.?Until then, continue working from home - - or from the beach.

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Michael Robinson, M.S. is a mild mannered columnist for Scoop USA Media newspaper, and a member of the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association (PNA).