Yes. Temporary workers in California are generally entitled to workers’ compensation benefits if they suffer a slip and fall injury while performing their job duties. California workers’ compensation law generally does not distinguish between temporary and permanent employees. What matters is employee status, whether you were working for an employer when the injury happened, not how long you’ve held the job, whether the position was seasonal, or whether you were hired through a staffing agency.
A temp on their first day generally has the same right to benefits as an employee of twenty years. Staffing agency workers are typically covered as well. In most temp arrangements, the staffing agency is the official employer and carries the workers’ compensation coverage, even though the injury happened at a client company’s worksite.
In practice, this means a temporary worker who slips and falls at their assigned workplace generally files through the staffing agency’s insurance.
What Should a Temporary Worker Do If They Slip and Fall at Work?
The process after a workplace slip and fall follows the same steps for temporary workers as anyone else:
- Report the injury immediately. Tell your supervisor at the worksite and notify your staffing agency, if you have one. California law gives you a limited time to report, usually up to 30 days, and delays give insurers room to question the claim.
- Seek medical treatment. Get care right away, and make sure the provider knows the injury happened at work so it’s documented correctly from the start.
- File a workers’ compensation claim. Your employer must provide a claim form (DWC-1) within one working day of learning about the injury. Complete your portion and return it.
- The claim is investigated. The insurance company reviews the injury, the circumstances, and the medical evidence, and must accept or deny the claim within the timelines California law sets.
- Benefits begin if the claim is accepted. Medical treatment is paid for and when you’re unable to work, disability payments should be provided as well.
If the claim is delayed, disputed, or denied at any point in this process, you should speak to a workers’ compensation attorney.
What Benefits Can Temporary Workers Receive?
The benefits a temporary worker receives typically include:
Medical Treatment
Workers’ compensation covers all reasonable and necessary medical care for the injury, at no cost to the worker. For slip and fall injuries, that can include emergency care, surgery, physical therapy, medication, and follow-up care for as long as the injury requires it.
Temporary Disability Benefits
If your injury keeps you from working while you recover, temporary disability benefits replace a portion of your lost wages. This is usually two-thirds of your average weekly earnings, within state limits. These payments continue while you’re medically unable to work, providing income during recovery.
Permanent Disability Benefits
Some slip and fall injuries leave lasting impairment even after treatment ends. When that happens, a doctor assigns a disability rating reflecting the permanent effects of the injury, and that rating determines ongoing compensation. Permanent disability benefits recognize that some injuries change what a worker can do for the rest of their career.
Supplemental Job Displacement Benefits
If your injury prevents you from returning to the same type of work and your employer doesn’t offer suitable alternative work, you may qualify for a supplemental job displacement voucher, which can be used for retraining, education, and skill development to help you obtain work your injury allows.
Death Benefits
When a workplace fall tragically ends the loss of a worker’s life, workers’ compensation provides death benefits to eligible family members who depended on the worker’s income, along with burial expenses. These benefits apply to the families of temporary workers on the same terms as any other employee’s family.
Temporary workers have the same rights as everyone else, but their claims can be complicated by staffing agencies and worksites pointing at each other, insurers questioning short work histories, and benefits that arrive late or get cut off early. You don’t have to sort any of that out alone. If you were injured in a slip and fall while working a temporary job, contact us to schedule a free consultation.