The workers’ compensation system provides injured workers with various benefits, including medical care and wage loss benefits. In Nevada, any employer with one or more employees must purchase a workers’ compensation insurance policy.
Failure to purchase a policy can result in various penalties, including criminal penalties. Indeed, the state takes this responsibility very seriously.
In today’s “gig” economy, fewer people are working full-time jobs as employees. Instead, independent contractor status is the norm. However, Nevada’s law is clear that independent contractors are usually covered by an employer’s workers’ compensation policy, unless they have an “independent enterprise.” The label a company gives you is not relevant.
Instead, we need to look closely at the facts of your employment. Contact Ace Law Group if you were injured and have questions.
Why Does it Matter?
Whether you have an independent enterprise can matter enormously. A person covered by workers’ compensation is eligible to receive:
- Medical benefits to treat their injuries
- Temporary total disability benefits if their injuries prevent them from working temporarily
- Other disability benefits, such as permanent disability benefits
- Vocational rehabilitation benefits
These benefits are provided on a no-fault basis. That means we don’t need to try and assign fault for the accident. You are automatically covered if you were hurt while working.
If you have an independent enterprise, however, then you don’t get any of these benefits. You are fully responsible for your own medical care, without any contribution from the business that employs you. You will also not qualify for disability benefits, either, even if you are so injured you cannot work.
Independent Contractors Are Covered by Workers’ Compensation Insurance
The general rule in Nevada is that employers must purchase workers’ compensation coverage for all employees, independent contractors, and subcontractors. So the good news is that most independent contractors are covered.
However, there’s an exception if you have an “independent enterprise.” This means:
- You are not in the same trade, business, occupation, or profession as your employer, and
- You hold yourself out as being engaged in your own separate business, and one of the following:
- You hold a business or occupational license in your own name, or
- You rent, lease, or own property to further your business.
For example, you might be a plumber who does work for a hospital. Your trade is different from the hospital’s. Consequently, you are not an employee if you hold yourself out as having your own business and hold an occupational license or own business property. As a result, you would not be covered by workers’ compensation.
By contrast, you might work occasionally for a catering business. You help bake food and deliver it to different events. You are not a W-2 employee. However, you very well could qualify as an employee for workers’ compensation purposes. You work in the same business as the catering company and do not hold yourself out as having a separate business. For these reasons, you likely qualify as an employee and can request workers’ compensation benefits if you are hurt while working.
Independent Contractor Status & the Construction Industry
Nevada law treats construction differently. The “independent enterprise” exception isn’t applicable. Instead, all workers on the jobsite should be covered by someone’s insurance policy—either the subcontractor who hires you or the primary contractor who is overseeing the job. The upshot of the law is that someone should cover you as a construction worker.
What Should You Do if You Are Hurt?
You should make a claim on your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance, even if they object that you are not covered. Whether you are or are not covered will be decided after you apply for benefits. But you want to submit a claim to get the process started.
Each year, the state brings criminal charges against dozens of employers for not having insurance for independent contractors. Things are so serious the state is issuing guidance to employers that their independent contractors are covered.
If you are hurt, please take the following steps:
- Inform your employer promptly that you were injured while working. You should tell them as soon as possible, since doing so protects other employees.
- Ask which doctor you should meet with. An employer generally gets to choose the doctor an injured employee sees for treatment. Obtaining treatment from an unapproved doctor can make receiving workers’ compensation benefits much harder.
- File a workers’ compensation claim, even if your employer claims you are not covered.
- Meet with an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer.
You might have questions about what to do, especially if your employer is objecting to the claim. We can also help with an appeal if your claim is denied.
What if You Have an Independent Enterprise?
Imagine you are a plumber with your own license who travels from business to business whenever someone calls. One day you go to a nursing home to fix a toilet and, while there, you are hurt. You have your own enterprise, so you aren’t covered by the nursing home’s workers’ compensation. What now?
Contact us today. You might have a premises liability claim. This is a personal injury claim, not a workers’ compensation one. We can seek full compensation for all your losses, such as lost wages or income, pain and suffering, and medical care.
Premises liability claims require showing fault. That means showing the premises liability owner was negligent in protecting you. These claims require much more work than a worker’s compensation claim, but Ace Law Group can help. We have won many personal injury cases and bring the same skill and passion to every client we accept.
Call Ace Law Group
Workers power the Nevada economy, making it one of the most dynamic in the nation. Whenever a worker is hurt on the job, they have expensive medical needs and other expenses. Make sure you get the benefits you deserve under the law. Unfortunately, too many employers think independent contractors are not covered by workers’ compensation when the opposite is true.
Let our workers’ compensation lawyer explain more in a consultation. We are only a phone call away.