What if I was partially at fault for the injury?
Answer
If you are at fault for your workplace injury, uh, the good news is you’re still entitled to workers compensation benefits—you may have not been being as careful as you should be, but that alone doesn’t preclude you from workers compensation benefits. The only exception to that is cases involving, uh, under the case law they call it horseplay, or you’re basically doing something that’s completely unrelated to work, you’re getting outside the scope of your work-related activities, and, uh, if, you know, if there’s a fight or an assault or horseplay at work that has nothing to do with the work or, um, to be done or has no connection to your employment, then that potentially could exclude you from coverage. Um, but other than that, if you just happened to do, um, a sloppy job or you just weren’t as careful as you should be, um, in one particular instance and you injured yourself, you’re still qualified to pursue workers compensation benefits.