Opinion ID: 1452606
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Interplay of Worker/Employer-Carrier Liability Under The WC Act

Text: The worker's statutory right to be relieved from the costs of medical treatment for a compensable injury is accommodated not so much by jurisdictional boundaries that separate the cognizance of the district court from that of the compensation tribunal as it is by the distinct concepts of legal obligation owed by the employer, the insurer and the worker. The interplay of these divergent liabilities is governed by the WC Act. [7] Section 14 of the Act makes the employer responsible for the injury-related medical treatment of a covered employee. [8] The employer's liability extends to those claims for necessary medical services which have been presented and allowed by the WC court. [9] Until the trial tribunal has ruled otherwise, the primary obligation of the employer is fully co-extensive with that of the injured worker. [10] Before the WC court has either imposed upon or absolved the employer from liability, the worker is to be regarded as immune from individual accountability that would be imposable in the district court for self-procured health care expense arising from treatment of a compensable injury.