Workers Compensation Laws
Workers compensation laws are different in each state of the U.S. A workers compensation law is a law that protects an employer from liability when a worker sustains injury while a work.
It has been seen that when a worker gets injured in a workplace that has four or more workers, the injured worker is entitled to medical care and financial compensation without having to prove that the accident occurred due to the fault of the employer.
Invariably, it is just the workers compensation law that comes to the worker’s assistance and the worker cannot sue his employee for more money. The workers compensation law does not take into account the pain and suffering experienced by the injured worker when it comes to receiving financial compensation.
This compensation varies from state to state and is not static.
Before the worker can get compensation for his injury, the case has to be reviewed by the workers’ compensation board. The compensation is decided after the extent or seriousness of the injury is analyzed. The workers compensation board makes its decision based on facts that it has.
If you get injured at your workplace, it is your responsibility to inform the doctor about how you were injured and where. You also have to inform the doctor whether it is a workers compensation related injury.” states Costa Ivone workmens’ comp lawyers.
You can apply to your insurance company for your medical claim but it has every right to stop your claim till the workers compensation board makes its decision on your compensation.
Workers compensation is considered to be quite complex and it is best to seek sound legal advice on this issue in order for it to be clear. Or you can use the Internet as a resource to educate yourself on workers compensation and the laws associated with it.
Statutory Employee Legal Advice
Who is considered to be statuary employee? In simple words workers in certain occupation who would not be deemed as employees under the usual rules but are employees under the federal tax laws would be defined as statutory employees.
In other words, statutory employees are somewhere between independent contractors and regular employees.
If you are a statutory employee, remember that your employer has to deduct FICA taxes from your income. As a statutory employee, you have to report your income on Schedule C or C-EZ though your employer will provide you with a W-2 Form which will show your income and the taxes that were withheld.
Since the FICA taxes have been paid by your employer, you are not required to file a Schedule SE or pay Self-Employment Contributions Act (SECA) tax on your income.
There can be instances when a person has both statutory employee income and as well as income from another source. If you are one with this type of income, you will have to file two Schedule C forms.
So, which are the occupations that come under statutory employee? The occupations can be divided as follows:
Full-time life insurance salespersons who work primarily for one insurance company
Traveling salespersons (this excludes agent drivers or commission drivers) who work full time on the principal’s behalf and dispatch orders to customers who are retailers, wholesalers, contractors, or operators of hotels, and restaurants.
Home workers who work on a contract or piecework basis, in their own homes or in the homes of others.
Agent drivers and commission drivers are those individuals who:
- operate their own trucks or the trucks of the persons for whom they perform services
- serve customers chosen by their principals and customers they solicit on their own initiative
- make wholesale or retail sales
- are paid commissions on their sales or earn the difference between what they charge their customers and what they pay their principals for the products or services they sell.
