Lost wages and Medical Care: The Hartford includes compensation for lost wages, the cost for medical care and rehabilitation and legal services related to a workers' compensation or employer's liability claim. To complement these coverages, The Hartford also provides a whole host of unique services that help you better manage claims...before the injury, after the injury and during the recovery process. These special services include: loss control services, early claim reporting, countrywide provider networks, nurse case managers, catastrophic injury care and vocational rehabilitation.

If an employee or member of your staff suffers employment-related injuries or illnesses while traveling on business outside the United States, this endorsement will automatically extend their workers' compensation insurance to cover these situations.

In some states, the state governments mandate that employers purchase workers' compensation insurance from the state fund. If one of your employees is injured in one of these states and decides to file a workers' compensation claim, that state's laws would apply. In such a situation, you'll be reassured to know that The Hartford automatically provides "employer's liability" coverage. This coverage would pay for related expenses and damages in case you are sued for the employment-related injury or illness. Other insurers may offer this extended coverage in these states, but only if you specifically request that they add it to your policy.

To recover benefits under your state's workers' compensation law, your employees don't have to prove you were somehow responsible for their employment-related accident or disease. But if they can prove you were liable for their accident or illness, they may be able to successfully sue your business to recover damages beyond the workers' compensation benefits. If so, you'll be comforted to know that the employer's liability portion of The Hartford's workers' compensation policy can pay for the damages awarded to your injured employee as well as the legal expenses involved in such a suit. This coverage may also provide certain benefits if you are sued by a third party affected by a workplace injury, such as a family member of the injured worker.

Unfortunately, fraudulent claims add to every employer's workers' compensation costs. And since The Hartford is serious about helping you control costs, we're serious about fighting fraud. Across the country, The Hartford has set up special fraud investigative units, primarily staffed with former law enforcement officials. These units are dedicated to detecting and prosecuting fraud. Our claim professionals can also coach you on how to spot and handle a potentially fraudulent claim.

If you are protected by The Hartford's workers' compensation policy, you won't have to worry about bearing legal expenses related to a workers' compensation or employer's liability claim. In fact, we will assume the responsibility of investigating, defending and settling related claims, proceedings or suits. We will also supply the services of an attorney to represent you in such a suit. In short, we will: pay the cost of defending you in hearings, suits, etc, that result from occurrences covered by workers' compensation; and pay damages if you are successfully sued because of a job-related injury or disease.

If you are sued because of your company's alleged responsibility for an injury or illness, The Hartford will mount a powerful defense against legal claims for damages. We can dispense with traditional litigation to negotiate the case quickly. Even if litigation is unavoidable, our on-staff attorneys can speed the process along and reduce the costs.

To help cut the cost of employers' losses and improve the quality of employees' care, The Hartford applies proven managed care techniques to its handling of workers' compensation cases. Among the managed care services your business may benefit from are:

• Provider Networks — pre-screened networks of health care providers who deliver quality services at a discounted rate
• Nurse Case Managers — experienced registered nurses who serve as advocates for injured workers, ensuring they get prompt and appropriate medical care
• Utilization Review — case-by-case analyses of what length of hospital stay is appropriate for injured workers
• Medical Bill Review — computerized analysis of all medical bills submitted to spot any erroneous charges as well as inappropriate patterns of treatment
• Return-To-Work Program — a patented program offering midsize businesses the tools, forms and guidance they need to implement their own successful return-to-work program for injured workers.

If your employees are injured in an accident, they may try to sue a "third party" (a company other than yours) if they believe that party is somehow responsible for their injury. In turn, that third party may sue you if it believes your company is legally liable for the accident. For example, an employee injured while using a piece of equipment may sue the equipment manufacturer for some alleged negligence or faulty design. However, the manufacturer can then turn around and sue your company if they believe the accident was instead caused by your improper maintenance of the equipment. In this situation, the Employer's Liability coverage of your policy is designed to pay any damages awarded by the court to compensate for the bodily injury.

Most workers' compensation policies only provide coverage for the states in which you do business, as specified in your actual policy. However, The Hartford's policy extends its workers' compensation coverage to employees traveling to non-excluded countries outside the standard policy territory.