If you live near your place of work or simply enjoy lending a helping hand from time to time, you may often find yourself in a situation where you are at work without being technically on the clock. If you stop by your workplace and end up performing some work duties, you need to be extremely careful about what may happen if you are injured while helping out. If you are scheduled for work and performing your job-related responsibilities if you get injured on the job, in most instances you are covered under workers’ compensation. However, if you simply stop by your place of work and help out without being officially clocked in, your rights as an injured worker may look quite different. Although it is great to help out your coworkers, considering the implications it may have on your rights and recovery if you are injured while not on the clock is very important.

The reason Workers’ Compensation covers most employees who are involved in an accident while at work is because they are technically legally required to be there as part of their job responsibilities. If your employer requires you to be at a certain place performing a certain duty and you suffer from an injury, the Workers’ Compensation system protects you. In the event though, that you arrive at your place of employment without your employer’s direction or knowledge to participate in work-related tasks and are injured, the responsibility will likely only be placed on yourself. Since your employer did not require you to be there nor perform any specific duties, it is difficult to argue that you are owed protection through the Workers’ Compensation system because you are not officially working while you are injured.

Although the instances in which you find yourself at work without being required to may be limited, it is important to ensure that you don’t get stuck in a situation where you don’t realize you were volunteering your time without being on the clock until it’s too late. If your employer suggests that you are allowed to come by to help out but does not specifically state that you will be working, you need to clarify to ensure that you will be legally on the clock and covered under all Worker’s Compensation benefits and right in the event you in incur an injury or illness from work-related activities.

Enjoying your job and the people you work with so much that you want to be there to help even when you aren’t required to is a great problem to have, however, the negative results that can arise if you are present unforeseen an unfortunate event can be detrimental. Whenever you are at work performing job-related functions, you want to ensure that you are officially recorded as clocked in by your employer so that if you are accidentally injured or contract an illness, Workers’ Compensation will cover you. If you have found yourself in a volunteer situation in which you were injured while helping out at work, contact Poirier Law Firm today. Although it is very difficult to award Worker’s Compensation benefits to workers who were not officially on the clock, it is not impossible depending on your specific circumstance and situation. Our team will do everything in our power to fight for your rights and win you the benefit you deserve to recover from your illness or injury. Always remember that your health and safety should be your number one priority before stepping into your workplace, even if you’re just stopping by to say hello!