It’s important to have safety rules in place to avoid injuries at work. But what happens when an employee is injured while violating a company rule?
Rule violators may not be covered
Employees who are injured while breaking safety rules might not be able to collect workers’ compensation benefits. This may vary depending on the laws in your state. In Minnesota and most other states, employees who ignore safety rules may not be eligible to receive workers’ comp benefits.
Make the rules clear
The safety rule must be very clearly stated and universally enforced for this to apply. It’s important to put your rules in writing and make sure they are understood by employees. If management hasn’t enforced a rule or made it explicit, an employee could still be eligible for benefits even if injured while breaking it.
The bottom line
To protect your employees, set safety rules, communicate them and enforce them.
For more information on this topic, read this blog post on SFM’s website or watch the video below:
This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.