What are an employer’s workers’ compensation responsibilities? P.1

In our last post, we began speaking about the common problem of overexertion. As we noted, Amazon.com has been targeted by OSHA for exposing employees to potential overexertion, which is an important problem, because it increases the risk of workplace injury.

For employees, it is important to understand their employer’s responsibilitiesunder the law, so that when an accident does occur, they are in a better position to exercise their rights and also to realize when they may need the help of an experienced advocate. Under New York workers’ compensation law, employers have a number of responsibilities, and we’ll take a look briefly at these here and our next post. 

First of all, employers covered by workers’ compensation law are required to obtain and maintain workers’ compensation insurance. Most employers are required to do so, and those that are must post conspicuous notice of coverage for their employees to see.  

Employers are also bound by record-keeping requirements. They are required to keep accurate records of the number of their employees, classification, wages and accidents a minimum of four years back. Failure to do so can results in fines. Misrepresentation of records or the concealing of records can also result in fines. This is a particularly important issue for workers who end up being misclassified and denied benefits on the basis of an incorrect classification. Employers are also required to provide the Workers’ Compensation Board with access to all its books, records and payrolls upon request.

In our next post, we’ll pick back up on the employer prohibition against discrimination.