Legal Translation for Foreign Workers’ Compensation
Legal Translation Services Help Communicate All Aspects of Coverage
Legal translation services play an important role in workers’ compensation cases and in employment law related to hiring foreign employees. Does your multi-national company’s workers compensation policy insure employees who are traveling abroad? Does it cover U.S. employees who have a long-term assignment in another country? Does it cover employees who get injured on airlines or cruise lines? travel Does it cover local nationals who were hired to work in the company’s European headquarters?
As the general counsel, HR professional, or outside attorney for multi-national company, you may think that the company’s workers’ compensation policy covers employees who are overseas. Yet, there are cases in which companies realize, when it is too late, that workers’ compensation does not extend to employees who are overseas.
Therefore, it is important to first check to see precisely what your company’s workers’ compensation policy covers with regard to employees working in other countries. Then, if there are some gaps in coverage related to overseas workers, you can consider whether Foreign Voluntary Workers’ Compensation is necessary to compliment your overall workers’ compensation policy.
In this blog, we will discuss some important tips related to Foreign Voluntary Workers’ Compensation, and also discuss why it is critical to have a professional legal translation service available to inform your employees about what workers’ compensation coverage is available. If, after reading this article, you want to learn more about hiring a professional legal translation service, we welcome you to call us at All Language Alliance, Inc. Our number is 303-470-9555. Our certified legal translators are standing by to assist you.
What is Foreign Voluntary Workers’ Compensation?
Foreign Voluntary Workers’ Compensation covers employees who are working outside of their home country. The coverage extends to bodily injury by accident, by disease, or by repatriation that occurs during the course of the employee’s work, when the employee is outside of his or her home country.
This type of coverage can be very important to multi-national companies because it serves as a complement and gap-filler for domestic business travel accident policies and domestic workers’ compensation policies.
Why is Foreign Voluntary Workers’ Compensation Important?
To be sure, domestic workers’ compensation normally covers basic illnesses or injuries that are work related. However, Foreign Voluntary Workers’ Compensation will pay other expenses related to an accident or illness that are not covered by a domestic policy.
Indeed, when your employee is in another country, in which there may be different standards of care and there may also be a language barrier, a Foreign Voluntary Workers’ Compensation policy may be able to take care of the injured employee in a much more effective way.
What are the Main Features of Foreign Voluntary Workers’ Compensation?
There are four primary features of this type of coverage:
• Endemic Disease. An endemic disease is a disease that is typically found in a particular area or region of the world. When it comes to domestic workers’ compensation policies, there may be coverage gaps regarding endemic diseases. Thus, the foreign workers’ compensation coverage will ensure that employees are protected for matters specific to the area in which they work.
• Terrorism and War. Unlike some domestic workers’ compensation policies, war or terrorism events are not automatically excluded from coverage under a Foreign Voluntary Workers’ Compensation policy.
• Repatriation. It is something that you might not readily think of, but when an employee needs to come back to the United States due to an injury or illness, i.e., when the employee needs to be repatriated, the expenses for such repatriation could be substantial. An example could be the cost of an emergency medical flight. Some Foreign Voluntary Workers’ Compensation policies will cover transportation of an employee’s family members as well.
• Facilitate Care. Some Foreign Voluntary Workers’ Compensation policies assist with locating appropriate health care providers, and the overall coordination of medical services abroad.
Who Does it Cover?
Foreign Voluntary Workers’ Compensation covers the following employees:
• Those hired in the United States. Employees who are hired in the United States but are assigned to work in another country are covered. Employees in this category are also sometimes referred to as “U.S. nationals.”
• Local nationals. These are employees who are hired and assigned to work in their home country. Thus, if your company has an office in Paris, and the company hires a French national to work in that office, then they would be considered a local national.
• Third-country nationals. Those employees who are hired in their country of origin, but are assigned to work in another country are typically referred to as third-country nationals. So, if your company’s Paris office hires a French employee, but that employee is then assigned to work in the company’s United Kingdom office, then he or she would be a third-country national.
• Independent contractors. If your company has a written contract with an independent contractor, and the contractor is working abroad, then your company can elect to extend Foreign Voluntary Workers’ Compensation coverage to that contractor.
In sum, if your multi-national company has a sufficient number of employees who travel abroad for business or are assigned abroad, then the company should consider a Foreign Voluntary Workers’ Compensation policy to complement your domestic workers’ compensation coverage.
In addition, it is critical to be able to communicate the kinds of coverage available to all employees throughout the world, particularly those who could be directly impacted by the additional benefits of the Foreign Voluntary Workers’ Compensation.
Accordingly, your company will need the assistance of a reliable, top-notch legal translation service. Those local nationals, and third-country nationals, for whom English is not be their first language would need to understand the different kinds of coverage available to them. In that vein, an experienced legal translator who is well-versed in translating legal documents, such as insurance policies, would be important to effectively communicate the available benefits.
When it comes to the need for a certified legal translator, we invite you to contact us at All Language Alliance, Inc. for the reliable service you need to get accurate, professional translation and interpreting services from English to Chinese, Arabic, Amharic, Russian, Korean, Burmese, Khmer, Polish, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Nepali, Thai, Tibetan, and other languages. Get in touch to request a IME interpreter or a medical interpreter for a vocational evaluation in rare, exotic, and common foreign languages.
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