It’s probably not as rare as you think for employees to get involved in physical altercations on the job. People can certainly be injured in these fights. Since the injury happened at work, that person may then wonder if they can seek workers’ compensation benefits for their injuries.
This can be done in some cases, but there are some specific points that you need to consider. All flights will not be covered. Injuries are only covered if a few things are true:
- It was work-related: If you and a co-worker have an issue regarding a non-work-related matter or personal matter, then the fight won’t be covered even if it occurs at work. But if you get into a fight over something that happens at work, then it should be covered because it only happened because of your job.
- You weren’t the instigator: If you start the fight, and then you get injured by the other person, you’re not going to be able to seek workers’ compensation benefits. However, if someone else verbally or physically instigates it, and you never wanted this altercation to occur, then you would be covered.
- It happened during a crime: Workers who are injured during the commission of crimes by others should be covered. This could be a convenience store worker who gets injured during a robbery, for example. If they can show that they were physically injured, then those costs should be covered under workers’ comp. However, there must be a physical injury, and unfortunately cannot bring a claim forward for non-physical injuries like emotional distress.
If you have suffered a physical injury in a physical altercation at work, be sure you know precisely what steps to take to get the compensation you deserve.