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What Happens If I Get Injured in a Violent Assault while Working?

If you are a victim of violent crime at work and suffer an injury you would be able to file both for an Ohio Worker’s Comp Claim and Victims of Crime claim. You would file your workers comp claim at the Ohio BWC and you would file the Victims of Crime claim at the Ohio Attorney General’s office.

The Victims of Crime claim will act like a net. You will pursue compensation like temporary total disability and payment of medical bills through your BWC claim. If your comp or medical bills are denied at an Industrial Commission hearing then you can pursue payment of your lost wages and medical bills through your Victims of Crime claim.

However you cannot participate in the Victims of Crime program if you do not report the crime, do not cooperate with law enforcement, or you have committed a felony crime within 10 years of filing the Victims of Crime claim. You can read the guidelines on how to file the claim here.

Scenarios where you can pursue both a BWC claim and VOC claim:

  • Getting knocked out by a club goer while serving as a bouncer
  • Getting attacked and robbed while delivering pizzas
  • Getting assaulted by a patient at a care home for developmentally disabled adults
  • Suffering an injury at work by a co-worker, where the co-worker has been arrested and being investigated for committing the assault
  • Involved in a hit-and-run car accident

A real world example of this has recently played out in Columbus, Ohio . A gentleman was assaulted while working as a security guard in a used car lot on the West Side of Columbus. Pretty serious injury, he was knocked unconscious. From the article it appears that the security guard will go back to work.

The Malek & Malek Law Firm has represented individuals who have suffered serious head injuries at work as a result of a violent crime. Some folks, like this man, are able to go back to work. Others suffer photophobia, phonobia, personality changes, mood changes, cognitive issues. The VOC benefits are capped at $ 50,000. In this case the BWC would cover medical bills and compensation past this $50,000 limitation. So if you or your loved one are not able to return back to work then you can file for permanent total disability. Depending how old you are when you file for PTD compensation, the lifetime payout can be orders of magnitude larger than $50,000.