My work injury was my fault. Can I still apply for workers’ compensation benefits?

You may file a workers’ compensation claim, even if the injury was your fault. The Ohio Workers’ Compensation system is a “no-fault” system, which means that benefits are not determined by looking at who was at fault for the injury. Workers’ compensation in Ohio eliminates negligence and fault as bases of loss allocation, and then distributes the cost of injuries among those parties who are best equipped to absorb them. This means that questions of fault, blame, wrongdoing, wrongful acts or omissions, or neglect are theoretically irrelevant under Ohio’s workers’ compensation system. What must be shown is that the workers’ employment had the requisite causal connection with the injury.