Nobody likes getting involved in an accident. But it is a common occurrence that the average person must get scared of daily. Over 1.35 million people die because of road crashes, with an addition of about 50 million suffering from non-fatal injuries. The statistics can be terrifying, which should tell you how much you must practice safety and awareness while on the road.
Some of your employees might have the unfortunate fate of getting involved in one outside the workplace. While there are a few exceptions, the company’s requirements for assistance on accidents and injuries might not cover their situation. Still, it does not mean you can abandon an employee in need of dire help. If you want to extend a helping hand, these protocols can significantly assist your employee when getting involved in an accident outside of work.
Medical and Life Insurance
Employees work hard to help your venture survive and thrive. Their skills and knowledge are valuable assets, making it necessary to provide them with the wage and benefits they deserve. Insurance coverage should be a priority for businesses when it comes to the employee package. You must aim to help your employees thrive and survive while they perform the best they can for your business. Medical insurance should be a given for your wage and benefits.
Employees could incur a lot of financial expenses when they get involved in an accident. They might require surgery, need hospitalization, and have to worry about medication and recovery programs. The financial burden can be taxing for them, and they’d have to worry about recovering enough to start working. A business should provide the necessities to help people survive, even in case of emergencies. Employees hope they won’t use the medical and life insurance coverage, but it is a sigh of relief when they have them.
Paid Leave Consumption
People have to focus on health and recovery when getting involved in an accident. But they might not remove the amount of work they are losing because of their situation. When employees end up getting hospitalized, they could worry about losing their jobs. Absences could lead to termination, but the company must be willing to make an exception. Income can also become a problem for them since they might have respective families relying on that money to survive.
You can forego the paid leave filing and proceed with granting them that. Employees can enjoy those paid leaves within a year, and getting involved in an accident is reason enough to warrant it. Company policy might dictate that they need to file it at least a month in advance, but who expects to get involved in a tragic situation.
When their hospitalization requires more potential absences, you should avoid counting those days as grounds for termination. Injured employees already have many things to worry about when healing from an accident. Ensuring their job security removes one of them.
Workers’ Compensation Claim
The unpaid leaves could mount up to where employees already lost a lot of money. During that time, the medical insurance coverage might no longer be enough to cover hospital and prescription expenses. If they don’t have emergency savings, they might have to take out a loan or get into debt. The strategy will put their finances back for months or years, which is a depressing situation. Their families require the income, making it necessary to point the employee in the right direction.
Workers’ compensation aims to provide them with the solution for loss of income during recovery. Try to find ways to assist in filling up forms and filing claims so that they don’t have to worry about the workdays they missed. Their accident might not be work-related, making them ineligible for workers’ compensation.
Legal Assistance
The medical expenses are not the only things they have to worry about during an accident. Your employee might be responsible for an accident, causing injuries to multiple people on the road. After recovery, the worker might receive a court summon because of dangerous driving.
However, it does not mean that the employee is guilty. To prevent your worker from going to jail, you can provide legal assistance for them. Try to suggest a criminal defense lawyer set up a stable defense for your employee. Your legal department might also have someone who can help, ensuring that your worker can get out of the situation.
Companies have a responsibility to workers, especially the ones that got involved in an accident. Showing care is critical even if the injury happened outside the workplace. If you want to reach out, these options are the best roads to take.