Many employees must travel as a part of their job requirements. Sometimes injuries result from car accidents while traveling for business purposes. Workers’ Compensation benefits are payable, depending on what the employee was doing at the time of the collision.Traveling to meetings or to make sales calls would be an accepted claim. Making deliveries and running errands for a supervisor or boss would also be an accepted claim. Operating a motorized vehicle, such as a semi-truck would be a payable claim. If you get into a car accident while traveling to and from work, in most cases the injuries would not be accepted as a Workers’ Compensation claim.

An issue arises in on the job car accidents when another party is at fault. When there is insurance coverage under the Employer’s Workers’ Compensation policy and also a liability insurance policy from the at-fault driver’s insurance the benefits are coordinated very carefully. There is a possibility that the injured worker will have both a Workers’ Compensation claim and a Personal Injury claim in civil court.

Filing a Workers’ Compensation claim for injuries resulting from car accidents can insure that medical bills and income benefits will be paid. However, in Georgia, a Workers’ Compensation claim does not pay for pain and suffering due to injuries. In civil court, making a claim for pain and suffering would be possible. Likewise, the Workers’ Compensation insurance carrier would not pay for property damage to your car. These damages would be paid by the automobile liability insurance carrier.

An employee who is injured on the job in an automobile accident must be very careful not to sign away his rights by settling with one insurance carrier before settling with another. The settlement documentation with either claim must be carefully worded and must consider the claim that is not yet settled. This is a tricky area of the law and one in which it is always wise to have professional representation.

If you have been injured in a car accident while on the job, please contact us right away. Let us help you decide the best course of action for you. J. Franklin Burns, P.C., at 1-404-920-4708 .