Legal Question in Workers Comp in Kansas

Re: Is Employer Required to Carry Workmens' Comp for Part TIme Employees?

I will try to answer your question for you. Please understand that this reply does not create an attorney client relationship between us nor should you consider this reply to be legal advice.

In Kansas an employer that has a $20,000.00 payroll must provide workers compensation benefits to its employees, whether full time or part time employees. In deciding whether an employer has a $20,000.00 payroll, money paid to family members related by blood or marriage is not counted.

If the employer you are asking about had a payroll of $20,000.00 or more to employees who were not blood or marriage related, compensation and medical benefits would probably be due for work related injuries to a part time employee based on what you put in your question.

I hope this has been helpful to you.

Re: Is Employer Required to Carry Workmens' Comp for Part TIme Employees?

This reply is from a Texas attorney familiar only with the Texas Worker's Compensation Laws.

If you were a Texas Employer and provided Worker's Compensation to your 'full time' employees, it is possible that said coverage may extend to 'part time' employees under certain circumstances. Because of that fact and assuming you provide Worker's Compensation coverage for your 'full time' employees, I would suggest that you go ahead and fill out and file with whatever Commission that you may have in your state (in Texas, the Workers' Compensation Commission)an Employer's First Report of Injury (or whatever your state's form might be)and provide a copy of the same to your carrier in order to see if, by chance, that carrier will accept coverage for that 'part time' employee.

In Texas, an employer does not have to carry Worker's Compensation coverage on its employees. If an employer does not provide that coverage, that employer is required to 'notify' its employees of that fact when they are hired or when that employer 'drops' its comp coverage. If an employee of an employer which does not provide compensation coverage to its employees is injured in Texas, that employee has a right to sue that employer 'directly' for the injuries that employee sustained. The injured employee has the burden of showing that his/her employer was 'negligent' and that said negligence was a 'proximate cause' of the injuries. An uninsured employer does not have any common law defenses in a 'non-subscriber' case here in Texas so if, in fact, that employee caused or contributed to the cause of his own injury, that employee's own 'negligence' cannot be 'compared' with any that may be found against that 'non-subscribing' employer, if any. As is evident, if the employer did nothing to cause the injury, the employee claim directly against that 'non-subscriber' employer cannot be perfected through Judgment. Unfortunately, the employer will have to 'foot the bill' in terms of its own defense in any 'non-subscriber' lawsuit.