At many places of employment, new employees have to be employed for a certain period before the employees can receive certain benefits, such as time off, insurance, or retirement benefits. What if, however, the new employee is injured at work during the first week of employment? Is the employee able to receive workers’ compensation insurance benefits? Or does the employee have to be employed for a certain number of months before the employee will be entitled to workers’ compensation insurance benefits?
Fortunately, newly hired employees who are injured on the job do not have to worry about being excluded from workers’ compensation insurance benefits. Under Tennessee law, an employee is entitled to receive workers’ compensation insurance benefits when the employee is hired. With respect to entitlement to workers’ compensation insurance benefits, Tennessee law does not distinguish between employees just who were just hired and employees who have been working for years. Therefore, if an employee suffers a work-related injury on the first day of employment, the injured employee will be entitled to file a claim for workers’ compensation insurance benefits.