Who Benefits from Workers' Compensation?

Workers' compensation insurance may be required by law, but it’s for good reason. Workers' comp helps provide protection and benefits to both employees and the employer, so everyone has some protection.

Workers' Compensation Benefits for Employees

A work-related injury or illness can be physically, emotionally, and financially disastrous for an employee. While employers can't always provide for some of the damage, they can help provide financial compensation that will help ease the burdens of a work-related injury or illness with workers’ comp. These are some of the key benefits of workers' comp for employees:

Covers paychecks missed due to the injury or illness. Covering these expenses eases much of the burden of missing work to recover.
Helps cover the medical bills from the injury or illness. Medical bills can be extensive and put extreme strain on an injured or sick employee and their family, so help with covering these expenses is a major benefit of workers' comp.
Helps protects the employee's job while they recover. Employees can recover without having to worry that they won't be able to return to work when they've recovered.
Helps provide a beneficiary benefit. If an employee is killed on the job, their family will be provided with a beneficiary benefit that will help cover many costs.

Workers' Compensation Benefits for Employers

Workers' comp doesn't just protect employees; it helps protect the employers as well. Essentially, if an employee is injured in a work-related incident, the employer could be legally responsible for providing compensation. This insurance policy is what makes providing that compensation affordable and possible. These are some of the key benefits of workers' comp for employers:

Helps cover compensation for employees. Without the insurance policy covering the compensation, employers would typically need to cover some of it out-of-pocket. Medical bills and missed paychecks ad up quickly, and employers can struggle to provide these checks without the insurance policy.
Helps cover legal fees if necessary. If an employee sues the company for the injury or illness they sustained at the company, workers' comp insurance can help cover the employer's legal needs as part of employer's liability insurance. This part of workers' comp could cover legal fees, settlements, and judgements, so the employer doesn't have to pay out-of-pocket.
Helps companies meet legal requirements. Workers' comp is required by law in many states, so providing it helps a company meet legal requirements.
Helps protect businesses from lawsuits and going under. A company is less likely to be sued by an employee if the employee is provided workers' comp. In addition, paying for lawsuits or for employee medical bills and paychecks can cause businesses, especially small businesses, to go under due to the financial distress. Protecting employees helps protect employers.