We have seen many people who had very real and very serious work injuries make their cases unnecessarily difficult. Here is a list of some of the most common problems that we have seen.

1. Denying activities you actually perform outside of work. In most workers’ compensation cases, and especially for cumulative trauma cases, the insurance company will interview the Claimant. One of the standard areas of questioning is about what type of activities a worker engages in outside of employment. Sometimes an injured worker will deny that they have a second job, or that they regularly chop their own firewood because they are worried that the claim will be denied based on these other activities. An insurance company might deny a claim in which they are told the worker has a second job, but the worker still has a good chance to win at trial. However, a worker who denied a second job or a strenuous hobby is going to be facing an uphill battle when the insurance company discovers the truth. Believe us, the truth always comes out.
2. Denying preexisting conditions or past injuries. Similarly, a worker with a shoulder injury might answer interview questions about a past shoulder injury or treatment with a false denial. The fact that a worker has a preexisting problem is not a work comp defense. If the employment substantially aggravates the preexisting condition, then the employer and insurance company are responsible for the injury. However, denying the preexisting problem makes it easier for the insurance company to convince a work comp judge that the complaint is actually based on the preexisting problem.
3. Exaggerating or lying about symptoms. Doctors and medical testing can often detect exaggeration and lies. Being caught in exaggerating and lying about symptoms is another way of hurting your claim.
4. Covering up details of the accident. Sometimes a claimant will decide not to share details of their injury that they think make them look responsible for their own injury or make them look foolish in some way. In Iowa workers’ compensation cases it is not a defense if the workers’ own actions contributed to his injuries. Additionally, this is another example of where lying about one area is going to lead the work comp judge to conclude that you were lying about other parts of the case.
5. Running down your employer. Sometimes it is very natural to have negative feelings about your employer after a work injury. However, it is best to keep that unhappiness to yourself. Telling doctors and adjusters about your unhappiness with your employer helps support the defense argument that your injuries are not very serious, and you are exaggerating them because of your unhappiness with your employer.
6. Not cooperating with your medical care providers. Missing appointments and not following instructions will become part of a defense argument that the claimant really was not hurt since they are not following up on medical care requirements.
7. Being rude to anyone in the system. Being injured at work can be very stressful. The workers’ compensation process is certainly slow and annoying. However, be polite to everyone you deal with. Everyone is busy. Do not make people mad and motivate them to try to find some extra time to disprove your claim.

Here Is When You Do Not Need a Lawyer

You do not immediately need a lawyer as long as the employer and insurance company are providing medical care and you are being paid your regular wages or being paid workers’ compensation benefits for missed work.

If everything goes smoothly your case should generally proceed along the following lines:

1. You should continue to receive medical care.
2. Eventually the doctors will say that you have healed as much as possible and that you have reached maximum medical improvement. Maximum medical improvement does not mean that you are completely cured, but rather that your condition will not improve.
3. Once you reach maximum medical improvement the work comp insurance company should obtain an impairment rating of your disability from the doctor.
4. The work comp insurance company should then voluntarily pay you some amount of money based on the impairment rating from the doctor.

Once the work comp insurance company has told you what they are going to voluntarily pay you, then you should definitely contact a lawyer. The way that our law firm handles these situations is that whatever benefits you have been paid in the past and whatever benefits that the insurance company has promised to voluntarily pay you in the future go 100% to you. Our law firm receives a one-third contingent fee of any additional money that we are able to obtain for you.

Keep in mind that there are time limits in the Iowa workers’ compensation system. If the Defendants never paid you any weekly work comp benefits, then you must file a workers’ compensation Petition within two years of the date of injury. If the Defendants have paid you weekly work comp benefits, then the time limit for filing a workers’ compensation petition is within three years of the last payment of benefits.

Finally, be very careful about entering into settlement agreements. There are two main types of settlements:

1. Closed file settlements. This type of settlement cuts off your right to future medical care. This is potentially a serious problem because private health insurance and/or Medicare may not pay for medical care in the future for work-related injuries.
2. Open file settlements. In this type of settlement your right to future medical care stays open. However, you do not want to enter into an open file settlement until the case has been fully analyzed and litigated. If you enter into an open file settlement in response to a defense offer, you are agreeing to their value of the case and you will not be entitled to seek any additional money. The Defendants are required to voluntarily pay you what they consider to be the value of the case without you having to sign a settlement agreement of any type.

Here Is When You Do Need a Lawyer

1. Your employer will not report the injury to its work comp insurance carrier. Some employers are reluctant to report work injuries because of the potential for the claim to increase the work comp insurance premiums. However, if the employer will not report the injury, the work comp insurance company cannot provide you medical care and weekly benefits. You can report the injury directly to the work comp insurance company. If you cannot figure out the identity of the work comp insurance company, you can contact our office and we can usually find the name of the work comp carrier and provide you contact information to report the injury.
2. The work comp insurance company is delaying providing medical benefits or weekly payments. Sometimes delays are just part of the investigation process. In other situations, it is a sign that the carrier is actually planning to deny the claim, and then you will definitely need a lawyer to represent you.
3. The insurance company has formally denied or rejected your claim. If this has occurred, it is extremely unlikely that you can persuade the insurance company to change its mind. At this point you will need a lawyer to file a petition on your behalf and begin the litigation process.
4. Your employer will not offer you light duty work after you have been released to return to work. This is a strong sign that you are going to be terminated and that you will have to deal with serious and permanent injuries.
5. The insurance company has offered to pay you money in a lump sum rather than in weekly installments. In this situation the insurance company is probably offering you a closed file settlement that will cut off your right to future medical benefits and cut off your right to future cash benefits in case your condition worsens. In some situations, a closed file settlement is reasonable. However, you want to explore this issue very carefully with a lawyer first.
6. You are having problems getting the medical care you need. Lawyers can help to force the insurance company to provide the proper care.

Here is our advice on what to do if you get hurt on the job.

1. Report the injury to your supervisor. If you fail to report an injury within 90 days of it occurring, you will be barred from receiving any money or medical care no matter how clear it was that you were hurt on the job. Report injuries right away. Do not wait.
2. Make sure your report of injury is turned into a written document. Many employers will have forms for reports of injury. Make sure the report gets completely filled out and keep a copy for yourself. If your employer doesn’t have forms, you can give your own written notice. Make sure you include the date your notice is given and also make sure your notice explains:
   1. The date of injury.
   2. How the injury occurred.
   3. What body parts were injured.
3. Do not quit your job. If you quit your job the employer is going to be able to avoid paying you workers’ compensation benefits for missed time. Additionally, if you are no longer with the employer, it increases the insurance company’s ability to not provide all the medical care that might otherwise be required. Quitting your job also looks very bad at trial.
4. Push for medical evaluation and care. Sometimes the employer will not be in a rush to get you to see a doctor. If you go to your own doctor there is a good chance the bill won’t get paid. You need to press your employer to contact the work comp insurance carrier. The work comp insurance carrier will tell you which doctor they want you to see.
5. Cooperate with the medical providers. Follow the instructions of the medical providers.
6. Be polite to the medical providers. Having a work injury can be stressful. However, giving the medical care providers a hard time will not help your case.
7. Do not deny preexisting problems or medical care. The adjuster is going to ask about preexisting problems with the injured area or prior medical care for the area. You might be tempted not to share that information, but it is always going to be discovered and it would look terrible for your side at trial.
8. Be extremely cautious about seeking medical care through your own doctor or a doctor of your own choice. Under Iowa law the employer and insurance carrier have the right to choose the medical care providers. If you decide to go to your own doctor, the Defendants likely will not have to pay for those visits.
9. Accept whatever appropriate light duty work you are given. If you are injured and you can’t do your regular job, the employer has the option of either putting you off work and paying you workers’ compensation benefits, or providing you light duty work and paying your regular wages. The offered work might not be appealing, and it might even strike you as mean. However, if you reject light duty work, you will not get paid either wages or workers’ compensation benefits. Additionally, rejecting light duty work looks bad at an eventual workers’ compensation trial.
10. Do not call in sick with personal complaints. Sometimes we see workers who are unhappy about light duty work because they don’t like it, or they feel like they are being verbally abused on light duty. As a result, the injured worker may call in sick, claiming to have the flu or some other illness, even if they do not. Do not go down this road.
11. Do not embellish accident details. Sometimes injured workers feel that they are not being taken seriously, so they will exaggerate accident details to make it seem more dramatic. Don’t do this. Getting caught in any type of lie, deception, or exaggeration is terrible at trial.
12. Do not exaggerate injury symptoms. Similarly, sometimes workers feel that no one cares about their injuries or are not taking their injuries seriously. In response, the worker starts increasing the level of their complaints. This is another thing that will look very bad at trial.
13. Do not deny outside activities. When you get injured, the insurance adjuster might ask you about outside activities. Sometimes people get nervous and think if “I tell this adjuster about my hobbies, they are going to try to blame the injury on the hobby.” That is a very legitimate concern. However, denying an outside activity and having it come up later is much worse.
14. Ensure your work restrictions are enforced. If the doctors give you work restrictions, the situation may come up where your supervisors want you to work beyond those restrictions. It is not always comfortable, but you have to stand up for the restrictions and tell your supervisor you cannot work beyond what the doctors have ordered.
15. Give another notice if additional problems develop. It is not uncommon that an injury starts in one area and spreads to other areas. An example is a knee injury that causes you to limp which eventually causes your hip and/or back to start hurting. If additional body parts start to give you a problem, give notice to your employer of these new developing injuries as soon as you notice them and follow the advice in paragraph #s 1 and 2 about getting the notices into written form.
16. Be very cautious about trying to resolve your case on your own. Iowa workers’ compensation law is extremely complicated. In trying to settle your case on your own, you can end up receiving much less money than you are entitled to receive. You can also potentially lose your right for future medical care and additional money if your condition worsens. Consult with an experienced work comp lawyer before resolving your case.

Set out below are the questions we get asked most frequently about work comp and our answers. We are setting out a lot of questions and giving general answers. However, the details do matter in Iowa work comp law so you should follow up with a lawyer to figure out how the law applies to your exact situation:

Under Iowa workers’ compensation law, the insurance company and employer cannot interfere with the medical judgment of their own treating physician. Schwers v. Nordstrom Distribution Center is a December 17, 2018 Alternate Medical Care Decision from the Workers’ Compensation Commissioner that deals with this rule.

In the Schwers case, the injured worker, referred to as a “Claimant”, had injured her back on August 10, 2017 while working for Nordstrom Distribution Center. Nordstrom is self-insured for work comp injuries which means it pays the medical care and work comp benefits itself. Nordstrom accepted the injury and provided medical care. Dr. Michael Chapman was authorized by Nordstrom to provide medical care. Dr. Chapman performed a low back fusion surgery on the Claimant.

Unfortunately, the Claimant continued to have low back pain. Dr. Chapman referred the Claimant to pain doctor #1 who performed a number of tests and a diagnostic medial branch block. Pain doctor #1 gave the opinion that a medial branch problem and facet disease could be ruled out as a cause of the Claimant’s back pain. The Claimant returned to Dr. Chapman who sent the Claimant back to pain doctor #1 for consideration of a spinal cord stimulator trial. The pain doctor #1 recommended against the spinal stimulator option and instead, recommended conservative treatment.

In response, Dr. Chapman referred the Claimant to pain doctor #2 for evaluation for a Nevro spinal cord stimulator trial. However, Nordstrom argued that pain doctor #1 had recommended against a spinal cord stimulator and refused to authorize the referral to pain doctor #2.

The Claimant filed a Petition for Alternate Medical Care that came on for hearing on December 17, 2018. An Alternate Medical Care hearing provides an injured worker the chance to argue they should receive medical care that has previously been refused. A decision is then made by the Deputy Workers’ Compensation Commissioner, who acts as a sort of judge in workers’ compensation cases. At the alternate medical care hearing, the Claimant argued that pain doctor #1 did not work with the Nevro brand spinal cord stimulator, and therefore the referral to pain doctor #2 who regularly used the Nevro brand spinal cord stimulators was reasonable.

The Deputy Workers’ Compensation Commissioner that heard the case, ruled in favor of the Claimant and ordered the employer to authorize a referral to pain doctor #2 to determine whether the injured worker could benefit from a Nevro spinal cord stimulator trial. The Deputy Commissioner’s reasoning was:

1. An employer is required to furnish reasonable medical care for work injuries.
2. The employer generally has the right to choose the provider of the medical care, but the treatment must be offered promptly and be reasonably suited to treat the injury without undue convenience to the injured worker. If the injured worker is dissatisfied with the care, the worker can file a Petition for Alternate Medical Care.
3. The injured worker bears the burden of proving that the care authorized by the employer or insurance company is unreasonable. The care authorized by the employer/insurance company is unreasonable if it is ineffective, inferior, or less extensive than the care requested by the employee. The determination of whether care is reasonable is a question of fact for the Workers’ Compensation Commissioner.
4. The referral was made by the authorized medical care provider. The employer cannot interfere with the medical judgment of its own authorized treating physician.
5. In this case it was reasonable for Dr. Chapman to make referrals to two different pain doctors to determine whether a spinal cord stimulator trial could help the Claimant.

The Iowa Workers’ Compensation Commissioner filed an Appeal Decision in the case of Mynor Ferrez v. Wyckoff Heating & Cooling and LeMars Insurance Company. This case is a good illustration of the importance of following up and pursuing a workers’ compensation claim quickly.

In May of 2014, the injured worker (referred to as a “claimant”) was 35 years old and working as a heating and cooling technician for Wyckoff Heating & Cooling. His main job was installing air conditioning systems in new commercial buildings.

On May 21, 2014, the claimant tripped and fell down a flight of stairs. The claimant had low back and right shoulder pain after the fall. The claimant went to the doctor a few times, but then returned to his regular duties without pursuing additional medical care. The claimant was terminated from his job on October 10, 2014.

The claimant testified at trial that he still had low back and right shoulder pain at the time he was terminated. The claimant further testified that he thought that once he was terminated, he was no longer eligible for workers’ compensation benefits.

The claimant was quickly able to get a new full-time job installing insulation. Unfortunately, the claimant was hurt on this insulation job on February 21, 2015 when he fell 10 feet off a ladder and landed on his right hand. The claimant had a severe fracture of the right wrist that had to be repaired by implanting a metal plate.

After his wrist surgery the claimant brought up the fact that he was having low back and shoulder pain, and asked for additional medical care for these injuries. The claimant had a low back MRI on December 14, 2015 which showed a severe disk herniation in his low back. The claimant also had an MRI taken of his shoulder which did not show any clear injuries.

The claimant eventually underwent low back surgery on March 9, 2016. The result of the low back injury and the surgery was severe enough that the claimant was prohibited from doing any heavy manual labor including the type of construction-related work he had done most of his adult life. The claimant did not look for a new job for about nine months after his back surgery.

The claimant was eventually able to get a job as a hotel maintenance supervisor that did not require physical labor. However, the job only paid $10.00 per hour and his weekly hours could be low at times.

The Workers’ Compensation Commissioner found that the claimant did not prove he injured his right shoulder while working for Wyckoff Heating & Cooling back on May 21, 2014. The long passage of time without medical care, and the intervening fall while installing insulation prevented the claimant from carrying his burden of proof concerning the right shoulder.

The Commissioner found that the claimant did prove that he injured his low back while working for Wyckoff Heating & Cooling. However, the Commissioner had some concerns about the claimant’s credibility and motivation based on some of the gaps in medical treatment, and the nine months without a job search following his back surgery.

Accordingly, the Work Comp Commissioner lowered the trial award of the Deputy Commissioner that heard the case at trial, and reduced the award from permanent total disability to 65% industrial disability. Therefore, the award to the claimant was changed from the claimant being entitled to permanent total disability payments for the rest of his life to 325 weeks of permanent partial disability benefits.

This case is a good example of why an injured worker to seek medical care quickly. If you have been injured at work, make sure you report the injury promptly and seek medical care authorized by your employer. If you delay pursuing your workers’ compensation claim, you may negatively affect your own rights to receive workers’ compensation benefits, which could result in a lower award at the end of the case. It is also beneficial to seek legal advice promptly after a work-related injury.

Do you have questions or concerns about your workers’ compensation case? Call our office today at (563) 556-0078!

One of the most common types of case in Iowa workers’ comp is when a worker has preexisting back problems that are aggravated by his job duties. As the Iowa Supreme Court has stated many times:

“While a claimant is not entitled to compensation for the result of a preexisting injury or disease, its mere existence at the time of a subsequent injury is not a defense. If the claimant had a preexisting condition or disability that is materially aggravated, accelerated, worsened or lighted up so that it results in disability, claimant is entitled to recover.”

An example of the application of the law of preexisting conditions is set out in the December 17, 2020 Appeal Decision of Hays v. Central Iowa Fencing, Ltd. And Grinnell Select Insurance.

The injured worker, referred to as the “claimant”, was born in 1981, and his entire work history involved a substantial amount of physical labor.

The claimant had preexisting back problems and had seen a chiropractor for treatment over the years, and especially between 2007 and 2010.

The parties agreed that the claimant had suffered a minor aggravation of his back problems on April 26, 2018.

The main dispute of the case was whether the claimant suffered a more serious aggravation on July 25, 2018 that led to more substantial back problems. The defendants (the employer and work comp insurance company) held the position that the claimant actually injured his back in late July while he was in the process of moving his home.

The claimant argued that he was injured on a difficult four-day job in Van Meter, Iowa. The location was very rocky and the work crew was not able to make much progress the first day. On the second day of the project, the claimant and the rest of the crew brought heavy duty machinery including jackhammers and hydraulic post pounders. The claimant testified that he was injured while using a hydraulic post pounder. The employer did not expressly deny the claimant’s allegations, but suggested that claimant only did light-duty work on the job because he was already having problems from the earlier incident in April.

The claimant testified that he was fired from his job on August 10, 2018. The employer denied that the claimant had been fired, but the claimant did not work after August 10, 2018.

The case came on for trial on September 11, 2019. The claimant’s personal medical coverage had ended shortly after his termination, and he had not been able to pursue very much medical care. Claimant had undergone an MRI and some epidural injections which suggested that surgical intervention might be the next step.

Both the Deputy Commissioner who heard the case and the head Commissioner who ruled on the Appeal found that the claimant certainly had preexisting problems, but had suffered a permanent and material aggravation of his low back condition while working for the fencing company. The work comp insurance company was ordered to pay the claimant weekly healing period benefits going back to the date of termination on August 10, 2018 and continuing into the future until the claimant reached maximum medical improvement. At that time, the defendants would be responsible for paying the claimant permanent partial disability benefits.

The defendants were also ordered to pay for the medical care that the claimant had undergone so far, and to authorize and pay for all necessary future medical care relating to the back injury.

This post will cover some of the more common situations where an injured worker may not qualify to receive Iowa work comp benefits. In all of these areas, the specific facts of the case are extremely important and if you fall into any of these situations, you should talk to a lawyer to help figure out whether you may qualify for Iowa Workers’ Compensation benefits, or another remedy.

OWNER-OPERATORS OF TRUCKS. Truck drivers who are regular employees of a trucking company are covered by workers’ compensation law. (There are some very complicated issues concerning the correct state where a truck driver work comp case should be filed, and we will talk about that issue down the road).

However, a truck driver who functions as an owner-operator for a trucking company may not be covered with Iowa workers’ compensation benefits. The controlling statute on this issue is Iowa Code Section 85.61(12)(c)(3). The statute provides that if all of the following conditions are substantially present, then the owner-operator will not be considered to be an employee who is entitled to workers’ compensation benefits:

1. The owner-operator is responsible for the maintenance of the vehicle.
2. The owner-operator bears the principal burden of paying for fuel, repairs, supplies, collision insurance, and the personal expenses of the driver while on the road.
3. The owner-operator is responsible for supplying the driver or drivers for the truck.
4. The owner-operator’s compensation is not based on the hours or time expended, but rather on a percentage of any schedule of rates or lawfully published tariff.
5. The owner-operator is in charge of determining the details and means of performing the services in conformance with the regulatory requirements, operating procedures of the carrier and specifications of the shipper.
6. The owner-operator enters into a contract which specifies that they are an independent contractor and not an employee of the truck company.

If you drive truck as an owner-operator, you should consider purchasing your own workers’ compensation insurance, if at all possible. Many truck driving jobs have a very physical component and the possibility of a serious injury is significant.

CASUAL EMPLOYEES. Iowa law also provides that a worker whose employment is purely casual and not for the purpose of the employer’s trade or business is generally not covered by workers’ compensation insurance. However, a frequent exception to this rule is when an employer, such as a warehouse, might hire a number of workers for a short-term basis to help with a spike in business. These temporary workers would not be considered casual employees because they are engaged in the warehouse’s regular business, and therefore would be entitled to workers’ compensation coverage.

AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYEES. The law relating to when agricultural employees are not covered by workers’ compensation insurance is particularly complex. However, as a general matter a non-family farm employee is covered if the farmer has a total annual payroll of over $2,500.

EMPLOYERS WHO DO NOT PURCHASE WORKERS’ COMPENSATION COVERAGE. Obviously, if an employer does not purchase workers’ compensation insurance, employees who are injured on the job will not receive weekly benefits or medical benefits from their employer’s work comp insurance. However, Iowa law requires employers to purchase work comp insurance and uninsured employers can get into serious legal trouble. Injured workers have alternative remedies against employers who fail to purchase work comp insurance. This includes a right to bring a civil lawsuit and seek pain and suffering damages against the employer. If you end up injured while working for an uninsured employer, you should definitely talk to a lawyer about your options.

Additionally, if you work for an employer who does not carry workers’ compensation insurance you can report the employer to the Workers’ Compensation Commissioner. The Workers’ Compensation Commissioner is trying hard to enforce the law requiring all Iowa employers to purchase workers’ compensation insurance.

Enforcement of the law requiring employers to have such insurance has two main benefits. First, it obviously helps a worker who is injured on the job. Second, it helps level the playing field for the employers who follow the law and incur the additional expense of purchasing workers’ compensation insurance. All these law-abiding employers are at a disadvantage competing against the employers who break the law and avoid the expense of obtaining workers’ compensation insurance.

INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS. Under Iowa law, an employer is not required to provide workers’ compensation benefits for an independent contractor. As a very general matter, the difference between being an employee who gets benefits and an independent contractor who does not get benefits is that the independent contractor is considered to be a separate business or entity from the employer.

The details of how this line is drawn between employees and independent contractors are very complex, and we will talk about that in a separate post.

Under Iowa law an employer must provide workers’ compensation insurance for all of its employees. However, an employer is not required to provide workers’ compensation insurance for an independent contractor.

The line between who is an employee who is entitled to work comp benefits, and who is an independent contractor who will not receive workers’ compensation benefits can be very hard to determine.

In the 1931 case of Mallinger v. Webster City Oil Co., the Iowa Supreme Court came up with the test for determining who is an employee and who is an independent contractor, which is still followed today. The test requires looking at eight factors, and no single factor is necessarily controlling.

In the rest of this post, we discuss the eight factors. In discussing each of the elements, we use the hypothetical of an employer who is a home builder, and the potential employee or independent contractor is a roofer.

Here are the eight factors of the test and how different facts would be interpreted in our hypothetical of a home builder and a roofer:

1. WHETHER THERE IS A CONTRACT TO PERFORM THE ROOFING JOB FOR A FIXED PRICE – If the roofer has agreed to perform the roofing job for a set price, that would increase the probability that the roofer will be treated as an independent contractor.
2. WHETHER THE ROOFER HAS AN INDEPENDENT BUSINESS – If the roofer does roofing for a large number of different home builders, that will increase the probability that the roofer will be treated as an independent contractor.
3. WHETHER THE ROOFER EMPLOYS ASSISTANTS WHO HE SUPERVISES – If the roofer has his own employees who he supervises and directs, this will increase the probability that the roofer will be treated as an independent contractor.
4. THE OBLIGATION OF THE ROOFER TO PROVIDE HIS OWN TOOLS AND MATERIALS – To the extent that the roofer has his own roofing tools, and provides the materials such as the shingles, this will increase the probability that the roofer will be treated as an independent contractor.
5. To the extent that the home builder provides the tools and the shingles, this will increase the likelihood that the roofer will be treated as an employee who is entitled to receive work comp benefits.
6. WHETHER THE ROOFER HAS THE RIGHT TO CONTROL THE PROGRESS OF THE WORK, EXCEPT AS TO THE FINAL RESULTS – The home builder will always have the right of final approval over the roofing job. However, if the roofer has complete discretion in how to do the roofing job, that will increase the probability that he will be treated as an independent contractor.
7. To the extent that the home builder can give direction on how the roofing work is done (and not just approve or reject the final work) that increases the probability that the roofer will be labeled an employee.
8. THE LENGTH OF TIME THE ROOFER PUTS ON ROOFS FOR THE HOME BUILDER – If the roofer only does one roof for the home builder, that increases the probability that the roofer will be treated as an independent contractor.
9. By contrast, if the roofer spends an entire season putting on roofs for the home builder that will increase the probability that the roofer will be deemed to be an employee.
10. WHETHER THE ROOFER IS PAID BY THE HOUR OR BY THE JOB – If the roofer is paid a flat amount based on the job, that will increase the probability that he will be found to be an independent contractor.
11. If the roofer is paid by the hour that will increase the probability that he will be found to be an employee.
12. WHETHER THE ROOFING WORK IS PART OF THE REGULAR BUSINESS OF THE HOME BUILDER – Roofing would probably be considered to be part of the regular business of a home builder, so this factor would probably weigh in favor of the conclusion that the roofer was an employee.
13. By contrast, if the home builder hired someone to install a pool, and that was not a regular part of the homes that the builder constructed, then this element of the test would increase the probability that the pool builder would be found to be an independent contractor.

CONCLUSION:

Figuring out whether an injured worker is an independent contractor who is not entitled to workers’ compensation benefits, or an employee who is entitled to work comp benefits can be difficult. If you are in this gray area and you are hurt on the job, you should talk to a lawyer to help determine whether you are entitled to receive Iowa workers’ compensation benefits.