Construction Sites, Injured Contractors & Workers’ Compensation

In Connecticut, the “traditional” rules of workers’ compensation are relatively well established. A restaurant employee cuts his finger preparing food on shift; a home health aide pulls a muscle in her back while moving a patient on shift; a delivery truck driver gets into a motor vehicle accident while delivering to a customer. But what if you are a contractor or subcontractor on a job/site and get injured? Do you know who your direct employer is? Is there workers’ compensation coverage? For the most part,…
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The Intersection of Workers’ Compensation and OSHA: Look Both Ways Before Crossing

In many ways, Workers’ Compensation (WC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are very different. WC is a statutory compensation scheme designed to limit an employer’s liability in exchange for more expedient payment of medical expenses, wage replacement, and death benefits. Most of these individual state-based compensation acts were in place long before OSHA was created with the OSH Act of 1970. OSHA, on the other hand, is part of the U.S. Department of Labor and was created to assure safe and healthful…
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