| Non-Business Exemptions |
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| The workers' compensation system was designed to provide benefits to those employees who are injured in the course of employment. However, not all "employments" are considered to be within the contemplation of the system. By way of contrast, consider the factory worker who cuts his hand while working on an assembly line making car parts for the employer and the teenage boy who cuts his hand trimming hedges for his neighbor. Both the factory worker and the teenage boy were "employed" to perform a service for another. However, workers' compensation would only be applicable to the factory worker's injury. Other examples where resulting injuries would likely not qualify for workers' compensation, even though the individuals were paid for their services, include a housecleaner hired to perform a one-time spring cleaning on your home, a babysitter who cares for a young child on a weekend evening, and a mechanic friend who helps to fix a broken vehicle.More... |
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| Employer's Transportation of Employee |
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| When an employer transports the employee to and from his place of work, the journey is considered to be in the course of employment. Therefore, if the employee is injured during the journey, his injuries should be covered by workers' compensation. The reason that compensation is allowed in this circumstance is that the employer's control over the transportation concomitantly extends the employer's control over the employee. More... |
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| "Benefits" Under the Black Lung Benefits Act |
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| Once eligibility under the Black Lung Benefits Act has been established, a totally disabled miner will receive benefit payments equal to a portion of the monthly pay rate for federal employees. Should the miner succumb to the pneumoconiosis disease, his surviving widow will be entitled to the same monthly benefit payment. If the miner has no surviving widow, his single surviving child will also receive the same monthly benefit amount. The benefit amount increases incrementally with each subsequent surviving child. Finally, if there is no surviving widow and no surviving children, the miner's dependent parents or siblings will receive a monthly benefit amount at the children's rate. The receipt of payments pursuant to workers' compensation or unemployment insurance may reduce these beneficiary amounts.More... |
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| Military Service and Social Security Benefits |
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| An individual serving in the military pays Social Security taxes just as civilian employees do. For 2004, when a person earns $ 3,600 they have earned one year of work credit toward qualification for social security benefits. The benefit amount that a person receives is tied to the amount of his earnings, which are averaged over his working lifetime. More... |
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| Representation and the SSDI Process |
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| When a claimant seeks social security disability benefits, he may select an individual to represent him in that endeavor. The representative may act on the claimant's behalf at all levels of the administrative proceedings. However, accepting the representation responsibilities does not entitle the representative to a fee for his services absent approval by the Social Security Administration (SSA).More... |
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