- January 2, 2022
- Workers' Compensation
As an Atlanta employee, you could develop work injuries at any time. Depending on your work accidents’ severity, you may sustain debilitating injuries that may necessitate you to stay off work temporarily. To compensate for your losses, your employers will pay you some monetary benefits for your work injuries. Usually, an Atlanta workers’ compensation lawyer will ensure that you get all the financial relief you deserve.
Generally, work-related accidents happen at your place of work while you are performing your official duties. For example, you may have gotten into a traffic accident while delivering packages for your company. You may have also sustained injuries due to a defective machine at work.
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees have had to work remotely from home. If you’re one of such remote workers, you may wonder if workers’ compensation covers your work-related home injuries. In his article, we’ll show you what Georgia’s workers’ compensation laws provide for in that regard.
Common Home Office Work Injuries You May Suffer in Atlanta, GA
Working from home may predispose you to the following work injuries:
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Psychological Injuries
Remote workers in Atlanta are at high risk of developing mental and psychological injuries. This may be related to the fact that stay-at-home employees lack the social support they need to work happily. This can lead to depression, burnout, loneliness, and anxiety.
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Repetitive Stress Injuries (RSIs)
Repetitive stress work injuries result from doing a particular activity continuously. Those repeated activities may cause you to overuse and injure specific body parts. These injuries are most commonly associated with desk workers, although they can affect anyone. Common RSI symptoms include weakness, pain, increased sensitivity, etc.
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Injuries From Slip and Fall Accidents
Work offices are specifically designed to suit the environment. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with home offices, which are usually just an afterthought and set up in a hurry. As such, many home offices don’t apply the required office safety standards. This can make them susceptible to slip and fall accidents that cause debilitating injuries like fractures and traumatic brain injuries.
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Burn Injuries
Remote employees are susceptible to certain fire hazards.
What Happens After a Work-Related Home Injury in Atlanta?
There are numerous benefits to working from home in Atlanta. First, you enjoy improved flexibility, a customizable office, independence, and less stress from transporting to and from your workplace. You may also get to save lots of costs from working remotely. However, while remote work has its advantages, it also has numerous demerits.
For example, your workers’ compensation claim will likely be complicated if you sustain work-related injuries at home. That’s because it’s pretty challenging to tell the difference between work-related injuries and domestic accident injuries in such cases. Did you trip over your laptop cord in your home office, or did you fall while running personal errands? It may be hard to tell.
Worse still, you’ll probably have no witnesses to prove the circumstances that led to your injuries. As such, you’ll need professional assistance from an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer to succeed in your claims.
Getting compensation for your work-at-home injuries also depends on the type of worker you are. Only employees in the strict sense of the word (not contract staff or freelancers) can get work comp benefits.
What To Do After a Work-From-Home Accident in Atlanta
To improve your chances of getting work comp benefits as a remote worker, do the following after your accident:
- Inform your employer about the accident and your injuries as soon as possible. The more you delay reporting your injuries, the lower your chances of a successful work comp claim.
- Gather as much evidence as you can. This will include taking pictures and videos of your injuries and the accident scene.
- Call for medical attention as soon as possible. Apart from getting you back to good health, a doctor’s report is a vital part of your workers’ comp claim.
Speak With Your Atlanta Workers’ Compensation Attorney Now!
Did you sustain injuries while working from home in Atlanta? If you did, you might be entitled to receive workers’ compensation benefits. The only way to know for sure is by consulting our workers’ compensation attorneys.
Our experienced Atlanta work comp lawyers have recovered millions of dollars in compensation over the years. What’s more, you wouldn’t have to pay any legal fees till we win your case. So give us a call immediately to book an appointment with our team of legal professionals.
