Purpose

• Workers' compensation (also known as "workers' comp" or "workman's comp") is a legally-mandated insurance program that protects both the worker and employer if a worker is hurt or killed on the job. Workers gain coverage for medical care, lost wages and rehabilitation, plus compensation for partial or total disability. Meanwhile, employers benefit from strict limits on their employees' personal injury claims.
  
  

Work Injury

• Workers' compensation applies to work-related injuries: conditions "caused, aggravated, or accelerated" by the work activity. Traumatic injuries that happen on the job---like a waitress burned by hot grease---are obvious examples. Also covered are gradual injuries (like repetitive stress) or occupational diseases (such as cancer or respiratory illness). To trigger worker's compensation, the job need only be a "substantial contributing factor" to the injury. The worker does not need to show that the employer was negligent.
  
  

Process

• To make a claim, a worker must immediately report his injury to his employer, and seek medical care if needed. A delay in notifying the employer can mean loss of benefits. The employer files a Report of Injury with its insurance company and in some instances, the Department of Labor and Industry. The insurance company then decides if the injury is work-related. Insurers can ask injured workers to comply with an independent medical exam ("IME"). The insurer will pay for costs of the examination, including reimbursement for travel expenses. If the worker refuses the IME, the insurer may stop benefits.
  
  

Disputes

• If an employee disagrees with the insurance company's decision and she is unable to resolve the issue with the insurance company directly, the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry offers free mediation services. However, if benefits are paid through a certified managed care plan, employees must exhaust the plan's dispute resolution process first. Some unions have their own procedures for resolving disputes, so union employees should contact their union representative for more information. The employee is also entitled to an administrative conference and/or hearing process, and an appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court.
  
  

Undocumented Workers Covered

• According to the National Immigration Law Center, the Minnesota Supreme Court has held that undocumented workers hurt on the job are entitled to all the state's workers' compensation benefits, even though the workers are not authorized to work in the United States. In a case called Correa v. Waymouth Farms, Inc., et al., the court reasoned that federal laws which sanction employers for knowingly hiring undocumented workers are not meant to frustrate state labor protections.