What Happens if a Telecommuter is Injured While Working at Home?
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will not hold employers liable for employees’ home offices, but state law differs on how workplace safety applies to telecommuters. Any number of scenarios could play out involving defected company equipment and the constraints of a worker’s office space. Employers have to be careful about how they deal with safety and worker’s compensation investigations for at-home workers. Generally speaking, injuries incurred while going to or coming from work are not compensable, and many employers have a default policy based on work hours that any injury occurring in that period can be investigated for work-relatedness. In addition, policy should require employees to report injuries in a timely and appropriate manner. The company should also include home safety training for all telecommuters.
