Workers compensation claims in the metaverse By Bernard D. Nomberg of The Nomberg Law Firm The working world is an ever-evolving landscape. While brick and mortar offices will likely never go away completely, working remotely or virtually are here now and coming on strong. During the pandemic, the remote workplace became much more the norm for many reasons. Just about any business you can think of except maybe health care and food services have some version of remote working. What has also evolved during the last several years is the virtual workspace — also known as the metaverse.
WHAT IS THE METAVERSE? Remember the 1960s animated HannaBarbera show “The Jetsons”? Such a cool concept was decades ahead of today. The Jetsons’ world was a precursor to the birth of the metaverse. People and dogs flying around in a virtual world, communicating on screens and meeting up in all types of novel places. Alternatively, remember the SimCity video series where you build your virtual world? Something like that. The metaverse is a persistent virtual world where people can work, play and shop from anywhere using a virtual reality headset, augmented reality glasses, a phone or any other compatible device.1 These virtual spaces allow you to create and explore with other people who are not in the same physical space as you. You will be able to hang out with friends, work, play, learn, shop, create and more.2
EARLY LEGAL CLAIMS More segments of society and the working world are headed to the metaverse. Banking giants, Visa, Facebook and many other leading companies are doing business in the metaverse. There is one New Jersey law firm that has a metaverse personal injury law office. By doing business in the metaverse, it
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will naturally lead to employees conducting business there, and as a result, legal claims will surely arise. There are many employment-related laws yet to be decided or even addressed in this field. It seems that so far no one has decided what legal framework should apply to a decentralized digital workspace in which workers may be physically or geographically disconnected from each other and the company they work for. Claims have already been reported dealing with sexual harassment, sexual abuse and racist abuse.3 These claims are just beginning. Unfortunately, the metaverse is the wild west right now as everything is new to those jumping into the space. How can there be a workers compensation claim in a virtual workplace? Excellent question. One my colleagues and I have been pondering as well. Typically, there are two types of work comp injury claims: physical and mental. While this article will not be able to address all questions concerning this topic, I will do my best to point out what we believe will be those types of claims.
PHYSICAL INJURIES When a person is working virtually in metaverse, they are likely wearing virtual headsets or glasses. We cannot foresee virtual “physical” injuries being compensable, but if this does become reality, we will be the first to report back here! For now, we will concentrate on actual physical injuries to the injured employee. If a person working from home or a remote location has an accident or trauma while wearing the headset or glasses and this causes a physical injury, they might have a work comp claim to pursue. Vision or hearing loss, or other physical injuries could be actionable claims. Additionally, there could be a third-party claim against the manufacturer of the headset or glasses if the device malfunctioned causing injury. Of course, the injured party would still need to prove legal and medical causation
The Nomberg Law Firm. for a successful claim. Another consideration for these claims are venue and jurisdiction. Those issues might be determined by the physical location of the employment at the time of the accident. However, there are also virtual world or internet jurisdiction considerations yet to be addressed. While more employees are working remotely than ever before, proving an on the job accident will still require the injured worker to prove that the accident occurred in the course of and arose out of the employment, regardless of the location of the work accident.
MENTAL INJURIES Many states, such as our home state of Alabama, do not recognize mental injury claims without a physical injury claim. Several more progressive states do allow for mental only work comp claims. Just like in the physical world, witnessing certain traumas while on the job could be actionable. Post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and other related mental claims might be actionable in those states for a metaverse workplace claim. If a person is hurt on the job, in the real or virtual world, due to unsafe working conditions, that person should seek legal counsel, as they may be entitled to workers’ compensation or other benefits.
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https://bit.ly/36Q2DQZ
What Is The Metaverse, When Is It Coming And Who Is Building It? - https://bit.ly/3KeCh9Z Read further: The Metaverse Explained: What It Is And How It Works - https://bit.ly/3pzzH6n) 2
3 https://bit.ly/35FKTHx. California trial attorney Mitch Jackson wrote more on this subject: Sexual Harassment in the Metaverse Workplace - https://bit.ly/3IBiocH.
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