Oftentimes, an employee may be suffering from an injury or disability and then be subsequently injured while working for the employer. Generally, the states have addressed this issue by creating a second injury fund. For the most part, the employer is only responsible for the workers' compensation benefits attributable to the injury incurred while the employee was working for the employer. The second injury fund would pick up where the employer left off by paying the difference between what the employer pays and what the employee is entitled for the total effect of all of his injuries.
When an employee acts to benefit his employer, he is considered to be within the course of his employment as long as such actions were undertaken in good faith. It is immaterial whether the employee's own regular work assignments were furthered by his actions; it is merely whether the employer's interests were promoted. As a corollary to this rule, it is also the case that if an employee aids a co-worker with the co-worker's job duties, his good faith actions in doing so are also within the course of his employment. Compensation has even been awarded to an employee who was injured while helping a co-worker after the employee's regular workday had ended. The reasoning behind the allowance of compensation in instances such as this is that it is contrary to the employer's best interests to inhibit the helpful nature of employees. Thus, helping a fellow employee is advancing the employer's interests, albeit indirectly.
Generally, if an employee is required to travel as a part of his employment, he is covered by workers' compensation for the duration of the trip. There is a distinct exception to this rule when the employee markedly departs from the business trip to attend to a personal matter. In those jurisdictions following the majority rule for compensability above, an employee will usually be covered for an injury resulting from, for example, sleeping in a hotel or eating in a restaurant.
"Dual-purpose" travel by an employee occurs when the employee embarks on a trip on behalf of the employer that coincides with travel for the employee's benefit. In other words, the journey serves both the business purpose of the employer and the personal purpose of the employee. Characterization of the trip as business, personal, or both does not have to be made at the outset of the trip. A trip can start out as purely personal but then transform into a business endeavor.
The Buy-in to Medicaid program is a form of work incentive that was initiated to provide Medicaid to disabled individuals who, because of the amount of their earned income, would not qualify for Medicaid. Individual states may, but are not required, to provide this incentive by creating a new eligibility group. Currently, just over half the states offer this program with many more planning to do so. Individuals "buy-in" to the program by paying a premium or other fee. However, participating states are not required to seek such payments.
