If you utilize a great deal of travel in your job, it is most certainly in your best interests to understand how South Carolina workers compensation benefits apply to you. Whether you drive a company car on occasion, or if your job frequently involves driving company buses or trucks, you will want to understand what workers compensation in South Carolina means to you. Even if you only ever use your own personal vehicle for company-related matters, workers compensation is still a subject that demands to be taken seriously.
Work-Related Car Accidents And Workers Comp
Car accidents are unfortunately a fact of life. This isn’t to say that you are a bad driver. It’s just that you should at least anticipate the possibility of a car accident while on the job, particularly as you consider the wide variety of accident-causing elements that are beyond your control.
Over the course of just one year, over seventeen hundred individuals were killed in on-the-job accidents that involved transportation. This doesn’t even include the accidents that didn’t have any fatalities. While this information isn’t designed to scare you into never getting into your car again, it is worth taking seriously the subject of workers comp in South Carolina.
Simply put, for the most part, workers who are injured in transportation-related accidents while on the job are entitled to workers compensation benefits in South Carolina. It is also highly possible that death benefits will be made available to surviving family members. In a general sense, all of this is dependent upon whether or not the individual had to drive as part of their job. It is also important to note that none of this is dependent upon whether or not the individual was responsible for the accident. Even someone who was negligent can become entitled to workers compensation benefits in the event of an accident.
Certainly, there are exceptions to all of this information. For example, if you are driving to or from work as part of a daily commute, getting into a car accident will not entitle you to workers compensation benefits. The accident must occur with a company vehicle, or it must occur while you are using your personal vehicle to carry out specific work-related tasks. Commutes do not qualify as such.
Keep in mind as well that workers compensation in South Carolina does not eliminate the need to seek out legal assistance. This is particularly true for anyone who plans to sue a negligent party.
If you have any questions about workers compensation, The Allen Law Firm in West Columbia, SC can help you with all of your workers comp needs.
