If You Get In a Fight At Work Can You Claim Workers Compensation?

Fighting on the Job and Workers Compensation. 


Most of us have had situations in our working lives where we have really wanted to punch a co-employee in the nose. But, if you did punch your co-employee, and knock them to the ground where they broke their arm, can they file workers’ compensation? The rule is if one worker injures a fellow co-worker because of a dispute about the manner in which work is being performed then the injured worker’s injuries are compensable under workers’ compensation. For example, if in the midst of a discussion about how to properly stack widgets so that the manager will not write them up for incorrect procedure, one worker strikes another with the widget and injures them, those injuries are compensable.


However, if one employee assaults the other solely from anger, revenge, hatred, or sheer vindictiveness and is not motivated by an incidence of employment, it is not compensable. For example, one co-worker was in the habit of insulting another’s mother, and finally in defense of mom, the miffed co-worker slammed his co-worker in the face with a hammer. Another common instance is romantic rivals fighting over a newly found out personal relationship. Just because work was a convenient venue for the assault to occur, it does not make it a compensable worker’s compensation case.


So, if you have been hurt on the job because of a work-related dispute report it immediately, and then pick up the phone and call Tippens & Zurosky, so we can be your voice, answer all of your questions, and file your claim! Tippens & Zurosky has knowledgeable, experienced attorneys who can fight for your rights during this often long and difficult workers' compensation process. Call us toll-free at 877-372-3580, or at 704-343-0018, for a free consultation. Let us help you!

Is It Workers’ Compensation If I am Travelling for Work?

On the Road Again – Is It Workers’ Compensation If I am Travelling for Work and Get Hurt in North Carolina or South Carolina?

If your job involves travelling away from your employer’s premises, you are generally found to be within the scope of your employment continuously.  For example, injuries you might suffer out of the obvious need to sleep in a hotel, or motel, and eat in a restaurant are usually held to be compensable workers’ compensation cases.   Likewise, injuries you suffer travelling between your hotel and a restaurant, for example in a car accident, are also generally held to be compensable.  You are also considered on the job as you make your way back from where the work is to be performed as long as there is reasonable continuity between the travel and the employment. 

This rule holds true unless there is proof of a distinct and total departure on a personal errand, or the trip is made for primarily social, or personal reasons.  For example, taking off for the weekend on a personal vacation in a company vehicle and socializing with a company contact, but not at the direction of your employer, but for personal reasons is not typically going to be found compensable.  The reality of this subsection of workers’ compensation law is that nothing happens exactly in the same way, and the blurring of personal versus business can be a fine line between a compensable case and a denied one!      

So, if you have been hurt on the job while travelling for your job report it immediately, and then pick up the phone and call Tippens & Zurosky, so we can be your voice, answer all of your questions, and file your claim!  Tippens & Zurosky has knowledgeable, experienced attorneys who can fight for your rights during this often long and difficult workers' compensation process.  Call us toll-free at 877-872-3580, or at 704-343-0018, for a free consultation.  Let us help you!