We all know the feeling when you chow down on a delicious meal and then shortly after something isn’t sitting right. Food poisoning can not only be extremely uncomfortable and painful to experience, it can also be dangerous depending on the severity and amount of spoiled food you have consumed. If you bring your own lunch to work and it makes you sick, you can only blame yourself, however, if your employer provides you with bad food, you could be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits.
Who is Responsible?
There are a few different scenarios in which your employer could be responsible for your food poisoning. In general, if your employer provides the food/beverage or requires you to consume something as a part of your job and you get sick as a result, you could be eligible for workers compensation benefits.
Providing food to employees
There are many occasions in which your employer might bring food into the office for all employees. Whether it’s a holiday, celebration, or any other special occasion, if your employer provides food or drinks that result in you experiencing food poisoning, you have grounds to file a Worker’s Compensation claim. If you can prove that the food your employer purchased and offered to you made you ill, it falls under the employer‘s responsibility to compensate you for that sickness. Whether it was just a few days out of the office to recover from the food poisoning, or if it was more serious and you had to either visit a doctor or the hospital, your employer should cover the costs associated with healthcare and time lost at work. If you have a more severe case of food poisoning where you are potentially out of work for an extended period of time, this provides an even more compelling case for Worker’s Compensation.
Requiring employees to consume food as a part of their job duties
Sometimes your job requires you to taste certain foods and beverages. There are a handful of jobs in which you might be required to try something that customers or other employees haven’t consumed yet. If it is outlined in your job responsibilities and expected from your employer that you consume the food or beverages at work, you could file a Worker’s Compensation claim if you find yourself ill after doing so. Below is a handful of potential jobs in which you could file for Worker’s Comp if you get sick:
- Taste Tester (wine, food, spirits, etc.)
- Food Critic
- Restaurant Worker (chef, waiter, etc.)
- Food Journalist
- Dietician
Next Steps
If you have fallen ill as a result of food poisoning at work, it might be hard to determine who is at fault. Our team at Poirier Law Firm can help you determine if you have a solid case to bring forward for Worker’s Compensation benefits. Suffering from food poisoning is bad enough, we don’t want you to have to worry about anything else beyond that. We will tirelessly fight to ensure that you are justly compensated for your injury!
Sources: https://www.accreditedschoolsonline.org/resources/making-money-cooking/