Most Oklahoma employees are covered by their employer’s workers’ compensation insurance, but understanding how coverage works can be confusing. Most accidents or injuries that are job-related are covered, even if they don’t happen on the work site. Injuries that happen while a person is traveling for work may be covered, but injuries on the way to work are for the most part not, due to a provision in the law called the going and coming rule.
The going and coming rule means that workers’ compensation does not cover employees while they are using their own vehicle to travel to work or from work at the end of a work shift. In many instances, however, people are covered while traveling for their job. For instance, if workers must travel from one job site to another during a work shift, they are usually covered. People who must travel as part of their job are also usually covered by workers’ compensation. This type of coverage applies where people are using their own vehicle or a company vehicle. People who drive company-owned vehicles as part of their job, such as bus drivers, are also covered while performing their job.
One circumstance under which a worker may be covered by workers’ compensation while traveling to work is if they are using a company-owned vehicle. This varies by state, and different states also have different definitions of what may be considered a company vehicle.
Workers’ compensation provides benefits for workplace injuries as well as occupational diseases. As the process is time-sensitive, the assistance of an attorney could be advisable when preparing and submitting a claim.