When travelling for work, an expat may hire individuals who are native to the foreign country. What happens when they are injured under the oversight of the expat employer? What are you responsible for as an expat employer? Let’s look at the facts and help you determine your responsibilities.
Are You the Employer?
Hiring someone as an expat is a responsibility that comes with certain legal ramifications. You take on the role of employer and all of the duties and considerations that are part of that, legally speaking. In many ways, you are responsible for the care of your employees, and that will extend to their medical care if they are injured, in many cases. Hiring staff in another country means that you become their employer, and it is vital that you follow the laws regarding employers for that nation.
For tax purposes, you will need to refer to the laws of both the foreign nation and your home country, but for the responsibilities of an employer, you have to obey all all applicable laws laid down by the foreign nation. You are responsible for all employees in your care, so if they are injured, then you have to follow the legal steps required in that country. In the event of an injury among your employees, your expat status is not likely to make much of a difference. The situation will typically be treated as though you are a local employer.
Whether you hire staff for your home or work at an established business in the foreign country you are an expat in, the classification as employer is essentially the same. Your staff will have certain expectations about how you will treat them and how you will assist them if they are injured while working for you. What those are will vary from one country to another.
Who Pays for the Medical Bill?
Now, this is where we get into tricky legal matters. When an employee is injured, who has to pay for it- the employer or the employee? Workplace injuries have to be covered by employers in many countries, and that is pretty much the rule for industrialized nations. Those medical fees may be covered by workers’ compensation, medical insurance, or other government-mandated methods.
Experts in injury law can help unravel the responsibilities for compensation for expat employers. However, being an expat doesn’t take away this employer’s responsibility. That fact rarely plays into determining how the employer pays or whether they are responsible for their employees’ wellbeing.
If an employee is injured on the job, they typically do not have to cover the cost of medical care. In fact, the employer may have to pay them for time off as they recover and may have to pay for ongoing medical care even after they return to work. For instance, if they injured their back at work, the employee may be able to return to work a few days later but would probably require continued visits to a chiropractor. The employer will likely have to cover those visits.
What If the Employee Was Negligent?
It is an interesting legal question to consider who is at fault in a workplace injury. If the employee was willingly negligent and reckless and did not obey posted instructions or workplace safety regulations, they may be held at fault for their own injury. In many countries, the law allows the employer to take them to court or sue them for their behavior and try to get compensation for the loss of assets.
The reality is that many employers will not bother with all of that, especially if the damage was not considerable. Instead, they may reprimand or fire the employee and leave the legal side of it alone. They may not pursue damages or compensation, so long as the employee agrees that they were responsible for what happens and pays for the costs out of their own pockets.
How Employee Injuries Affect Expat Employer Status
If your employees are injured while under your oversight as an expat employer, will that affect your ability to stay in the country or operate as an employer? In most cases, the answer would be “no” since workplace injuries are common and are easily handled by simply following the legal mandates in place for employers. You simply cover the cost for the employee’s injury and loss of work as specified by the country’s laws.
However, expat employers are often allowed into foreign countries on a contingent basis. They may only be there for a short time and are required to follow very specific guidelines for how they operate and when they have to leave. Expat employers will be held to very high standards by the companies they work with, so failing to keep a safe workplace could mean that expat employers are let go by the company or they are asked to return home. A poor performance can result in the loss of expat empower privileges.
On the legal side, if expat employers allow their employees to be injured, the government could see them as a risk. Their temporary visa could be revoked if the situation is serious enough. This is unlikely but possible depending on the kind of situation and the legal framework for expats in that particular country.
Injuries While Travelling with Employees
Let’s look at one more aspect of the expat employer and their injured employee. If you are travelling with a worker and you are visiting another country as an expat employer, what happens when the empire is injured? In the vast majority of cases, you will be responsible for their medical care.
In countries that offer free healthcare, you may be able to get the government medical system to cover most or all of the employee’s care. In other countries that don’t offer that type of healthcare, the expat employee would have to cover all medical care. Local health insurance policies may not cover you for those costs, so they will likely need to be paid directly from your pocket.
We have attempted to cover the broader issues related to expat employers and injured employees, but for more specific legal questions, it is wise to consult a lawyer.
