Glossary Check: Ohio 'Injuries' for Remote Workers

Columbus, OH (WorkersCompensation.com) -- If one thing is certain over the past few years, it's that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed quite a few things.

One of those things, at least in the State of Ohio, is the meaning of the word "injury," which the Buckeye State had to modify to fit the new remorte work normal. So what's that word now mean in Ohio? The following information breaks it down:

'Injury'

"Injury" includes any injury, whether caused by external accidental means or accidental in character and result, received in the course of, and arising out of, the injured employee's employment. "

Not 'Injury'

Injury" does not include:

Injury or disability sustained by an employee who performs the employee's duties in a work area that is located within the employee's home and that is separate and distinct from the location of the employer, unless all of the following apply:

• The employee's injury or disability arises out of the employee's employment.
• The employee's injury or disability was caused by a special hazard of the employee's employment activity.
• The employee's injury or disability is sustained in the course of an activity undertaken by the employee for the exclusive benefit of the employer.

The Long & Short

Let's say a worker decides to do a load of laundry in the middle of her work day and falls down the stairs trying to get the hamper down to the basement. Such an injury isn't likely to be compensable under the Ohio rule. But if that same worker trips over his desk chair trying to get an accounts receiveable report off the printer in his house for the weekly Zoom meeting, there might be a case.

Get the latest in compliance information from Ohio and all of the U.S. on WorkCompResearch

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