Answers to questions about telecommuting
Answers to questions about telecommuting
Here are some common questions and answers about telecommuting:
- Are telecommuters covered by workers’ compensation? Yes. The same standards for workers’ comp coverage apply to telecommuters. If the person was acting within the scope of his or her job while injured, the injury qualifies.
- But what if he trips over the cat in his own house? Is that a workers’ comp injury? Probably not. But the personal errand defense still applies to home workers as it does in the traditional workplace, notes Jeffrey M. Tanenbaum, JD, an attorney specializing in workers’ compensation with Littler, Mendelson, Fastiff, Tichy and Mathiason in San Francisco. This type of defense applies when the worker is injured while acting outside the scope of his or her employment. If the worker was not acting as an employee, the injury may not be covered under workers’ comp rules.
So if the cat were sunning itself in the den and the worker tripped while taking a break from work, it would be fairly easy to argue the worker was not "working" at that moment. But if the worker was walking across the office to get a pencil, it might be a good idea to keep pets out of the work space. Many companies state in their telecommuting agreements that the home office is to be kept free of children, pets, and other non-work distractions.
- Will the employer be equally liable for repetitive motion and similar injuries related to ergonomics? Yes. The only qualifier is that the company may have some wiggle room if it can show it strongly encouraged, or even required, the employee to set up an ergonomically correct office, and the employee did not comply. The current legal thinking, though it has not been tested, is that the employer is not obligated to provide all the ergonomically correct fixtures because the employee is voluntarily working at home.
- Can the employer require the same safety precautions in the home as in the traditional workplace? Yes. Enforcing those rules, such as prohibitions against smoking or eating in the office, will be difficult, Tanenbaum notes. But technically, the company can and possibly should do so to maintain consistency across the work force.
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