If you are like most people who are employed in California, you may be covered by workers’ compensation insurance through your employer. You may also associate this type of insurance and its associated benefits with being hurt in an accident at your place of work. While certainly workers’ compensation is intended to help people in this type of situation, its benefits may also be applied to a variety of other situations.
As explained by the State of California Department of Industrial Relations, workers’ compensation benefits do not have to be applied for after only one event or incident. They may apply to help people who develop injuries or health conditions due to some environmental factor at their place of employment. These types of situations may develop over a long period of time. An example of this is a health issue that is associated with exposure to a harmful substance at a job site.
Workers’ compensation benefits may also be available to people in California who experience psychological injuries related to their job or place of work. Benefits through the program include wage replacement for both temporary and permanent disabilities, medical care and treatment and even death benefits to surviving family members in the event that a worker dies due to an accident or injury related to their employment.
This information is not intended to provide legal advice but is instead meant to help people in California get a good understanding of the range of things that may qualify them to receive workers’ compensation benefits.