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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: On the Clock Off Property

    The smart thing to do is to report it to the workers comp carrier and let them decide if it's covered.

    This is a win-win situation for the employer. If it is workers comp, you're covered because it's in process. If it's not, then you are not the evil employer who refused to submit the claim, but the helpful employer who is only reporting what the evil workers comp carrier decided. You can then help the employee report the incident to her standard health insurance carrier. They won't pay lost wages (if she loses enough time AND you have a short term disability carrier they might) but they'll pay the medical bills as long as she has a denial letter from the workers comp carrier.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Posts
    12

    Default Re: On the Clock Off Property

    We are self-insured and I was told the following today:
    As a general rule, the Indiana Worker's Compensation Board takes the stance that employees are covered when they eat lunch or take a break on the employer's property. Again, we still have to look at the circumstances surrounding the injury and coverage is not guaranteed. However, we do not cover employees who leave our property for lunch or breaks, regardless of their reason for leaving and we have denied similar claims in the past. We are not singling out smokers. An employee who got injured on their smoke break would not be treated any differently then an employee who got injured while walking to Starbucks to get a cup of coffee on their break. The Board takes the stance that being on or off the clock is not always a determining factor in deciding the compensability of a claim.

    What bothers me about this is that smokers are forced to leave the property to smoke or face possible termination. I do realize that smoking is a personal decision, but it doesn't make sense to me that if you have no choice but to leave the property if you do choose to smoke, that it's not covered the same as if you made the choice to stay on the property to go to the break room or wherever. I'm not that naive to think that all laws are supposed to make sense to everyone, but this just baffles me.

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