Workers’ Compensation for On-the-Job Car Accidents in Pennsylvania

If you drive as part of your job and you get into a car accident, Workers’ Compensation coverage should be available to cover you in many cases.  This can help you get medical bills covered, plus replacement wages for your lost income.  And all of this comes without having to worry about what type of auto insurance policy you have or which driver was at fault.

Our attorneys can help you bring your Workers’ Comp claim, fighting to get all medical care covered through this system.  If you have other damages that need to be reimbursed, we can also advise you on what you might be able to claim through other insurance policies and lawsuits.  However, our focus is getting your Work Comp claim paid, whether that means through a settlement or through a contentious hearing before a Workers’ Comp Judge.

For a free case evaluation, contact our Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Specialists from Cardamone Law by calling (267) 651-7945.

When is a Car Accident “Work-Related” in Pennsylvania?

For Workers’ Comp to cover any accident or injury, the injury has to be “work-related.”  This generally means that it must occur during work but not necessarily during a core function of your specific job title.  For example, if you are a waiter and your manager asks you to run out to buy more spoons for the restaurant, that might not be a typical job task for you, but it would still likely be a work-related trip.  That means any crashes along the way should be considered work-related, too.

Generally, there are four core areas where a car crash will be considered “work-related” for purposes of Workers’ Comp coverage, allowing our Pennsylvania Workers’ Comp lawyers to get you coverage for these crashes.  There are also three seemingly work-related areas where the accident likely is not considered work-related, though the specific facts of every case will potentially change this classification:

Driving or Traveling as a Job Task – Work-Related

If you are a professional driver or you drive a company vehicle as part of your job tasks, then driving falls squarely within the scope of your job duties.  If you get into a crash while driving as an explicit part of your job, it should be covered as a work-related accident.  This also applies to driving other types of vehicles like forklifts or golf carts.

Work travel is also work-related, such as flying to a conference or driving to a company retreat.  These are work-related tasks that are an explicit part of your job, so the travel is covered as work-related.

Daily Commute – Not Work-Related

When you go to work in the morning and come back in the evening, those trips generally are not considered work-related.  There may be exceptions to this, especially if you were traveling on a work trip and were going in for a training, conference, or retreat rather than going into the office for your normal daily work.  However, the typical commute you take day in and day out will not be considered “work-related” because you are not “at work” while commuting.

Multiple Work Sites – Work-Related

While your initial trip to work and your final trip home might not be work-related, any trips between work sites during the workday likely are work-related trips.  For example, if you go to the office to start your day, then get sent out to one work site, then move to another around 11 a.m., then to another at 2 p.m., then you go home at 5 p.m., the trips between work sites would likely be work-related.  Even if your first or last trip is to or from a different location than usual, that might still be part of your commute, depending on the specifics of your case.  Even so, the trips between sites should generally be deemed work-related trips.

Lunch – Not Work-Related

Going out for lunch on your break is often part of your own personal time as well, not work.  There are of course exceptions, such as going from the office to a restaurant for a lunch meeting with a client.  Courts often look at what the purpose of your trip is and whether that purpose has to do with your job tasks or just your need to feed yourself.

Diversions – Work-Related

Whether you are on your commute or heading back from lunch, if your boss asks you to stop off and do a work-related task, the trip becomes a work-related trip from that point.  For example, if you are halfway to the office and your boss calls you and asks you to swing by an office supply store on the way in, that course change makes the rest of the trip work-related in most cases.

“Frolics” – Not Work-Related

In the same way that your boss asking you to do a work errand on your personal commute can make part of the trip work-related, taking time for a personal errand during a work-related trip can make that part of the trip personal.  This is often called a “frolic” and applies when the driver turns off course to do something like pick up their dry cleaning or make a quick grocery trip during work travel.

Detours – Work-Related

If you are out on a work trip and you run into a literal detour or something else that takes you off the route your employer wanted you to take, that does not change the trip’s classification.  Detours happen, and the trip is still work-related if you have to take a different (or longer) route than expected.

What Insurance Do You Use for Work-Related Car Accidents in Pennsylvania?

As mentioned, if the crash is work-related, then Workers’ Comp should cover you.  This can get you benefits for your injuries and lost wages, all without even needing to prove who was at fault.

If you typically drive as part of your job, you might also have commercial insurance that covers your driving.  This can provide separate payment, and you may be able to get different coverages under this policy than what Workers’ Comp would cover.  In some cases, you might be able to do the same with your personal insurance, too, or by filing a lawsuit or insurance claim against the at-fault driver’s insurance.

All in all, our lawyers can advise you on what coverages might come from which insurance and how different insurance policies might be able to make “subrogation claims” to claim back money that they paid out when overlapping damages are paid by a different insurance policy.  We can also help with the Workers’ Comp part of your claim.

Call Cardamone Law’s Workers’ Compensation Lawyers in Pennsylvania Today

Call Cardamone Law at (267) 651-7945 for a free case review with our Pennsylvania Workers’ Comp lawyers.