Understanding Your Legal Rights When You Play Sports For a Company-Sponsored Team
Posted on: 18 June 2015
In law and legal matters, there is always some gray areas that force a judge's hand to decide. These gray areas often cross over from one clear-cut area of the law to another, and what happens in between to cause litigants to sue puts everyone in limbo. One such area is playing a team sport, like baseball or softball, which is sponsored and supported by the company you work for. If you are injured playing sports for your company's team, do you know what your legal rights are? It is this type of confusing situation that requires the skills of a personal injury lawyer, and this is how such a lawyer can help you sort out your case.
Establishing the Existence of Waivers
If you signed a waiver or an informed consent document prior to your company team's first practice, you probably do not have a legal leg to stand on. This type of document means you waived all of your legal rights to any compensation should you be injured during practice or during a game. You consent to the knowledge that you could be injured playing sports for your company and you accept sole responsibility for those injuries. Depending on the wording of the documents you signed, it could mean that you will not get any compensation and that you will have to pay for all of your medical bills on your own.
Fighting for Compensation Anyway
There are a few ways you could sue for compensation anyway, even if you signed a waiver or informed consent document. If the injuries were the result of an accident caused by an opponent's team member, you might be able to prove that the other person was responsible. You can sue an individual even if you cannot sue his or her company or the company you work for because of the documents you signed prior to playing sports. You cannot claim worker's compensation because, technically, you were not working, nor can you sue your company because they did not push you to become part of the company sports team.
The only other way around this problem is if your company actually pays its employees for the time they spend playing company sports. It is then considered work because you are receiving monetary compensation for "work." Then, no waiver can take worker's compensation off the table because it would violate the laws surrounding and supporting worker's compensation. If you have further questions on this topic, you might wish to contact a representative from the Richard M Altman law firm.
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