Most cashiers and sales clerks do not consider themselves to be employed in dangerous jobs. Rather, the term “dangerous job” usually brings up thoughts of roofers, construction workers, firefighters, police officers and so forth. However, there’s one terrifying danger that every cashier faces: the threat of getting robbed at work.
Robberies at gunpoint have happened at St. Paul retailers before, and in other cases cashiers have been physically assaulted. Sometimes, cashiers get physically attacked during these incidents. If something like that happened to you, and you got hurt in such an event, you may want to learn more about your legal rights and options.
More about attacks against cashiers and workers’ compensation benefits
Imagine you were manning the cash register at a quickie mart late one evening. A masked burglar barges in with a gun, takes the cash out of your register and shoots you. These kinds of incidents — which involve an employee getting hurt at work by a customer or fellow employee — happen to approximately 2 million people every year according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Fortunately, employees who get hurt like this will usually be able to receive financial benefits to pay for their medical care through the Minnesota workers’ compensation program. There may, in some situations, be limitations involved in qualifying for these benefits. Here are two examples of when workers’ compensation benefits might not be receivable:
- If the employee’s ex-girlfriend barged into the store and attacked him or her, this might not be seen as a work-related incident by the courts.
- If the worker him- or herself aggressively started a physical altercation with someone at work, then the worker might not qualify for benefits.
Get the full amount of workers’ compensation benefits deserved
The more employees understand about their legal rights in and around the Minnesota workers’ compensation benefits system, the more likely they will succeed in securing the benefits they deserve. For instance, workers need to know what the time limitations are on reporting an injury and filing a benefits application as waiting too long could prevent them from qualifying. Also, workers need to know the full range of benefits available to them given their conditions so that they can evaluate whether they’ve received the full amount of benefits available to them.