Services

In Oklahoma, pretty much every business that has employees is required to carry workers’ comp insurance or secure compensation for the employee, either by being classified as a self-insured or a qualified employer by the Workers’ Compensation Commission.

A good example of that would be a dangerous work condition where an employee is required to perform, and result in an injury. There’s a famous case with a gentleman who fell off of a roof because of insufficient safety measures, and ultimately fell to his death. The employer was liable for intentionally causing his death, as the situation that the employee was required to work under was unsafe, and thus certain injury could occur there. So it’s worker’s compensation is not an absolute protection, so it’s important to be mindful of these other considerations, especially when dangerous work conditions are present.

The employee who’s injured does have 30 days to report the injury, and after that 30 days there’s a presumption created that the injury did not happen on the job. And that’s, obviously, not an absolute just a presumption. At that point, once the employer is notified of the injury, the employer has 10 days to file their notice of injury with the Workers’ Comp Commission, or any other recording, or reporting requirements they may. At that point, the employer would have an additional 10 days after the notice of the injury to either accept, or controvert the claim, or ask for an extension of filing an extension. Typically, that happens when more facts need to be discovered regarding the injury.

A lien, a mechanic’s lien or materialman’s lien, oftentimes called M&M liens, is to secure payment for worker materials provided to a job when not paid. And it’s a document that’s filed with the land records in your jurisdiction. It is dependent oftentimes on the type of project, whether it’s a residential or a commercial, and the status of the contractor involved, whether it’s a prime contractor, general contractor, a subcontractor, a material supplier.

Currently, the state of Oklahoma does not require general contractors to be licensed. However, other trades are required to be licensed such as electrical, mechanical, plumbing, and roofing contractors, as well as those who do inspections. With regard to the trades that required licensing, more information can be found at the Oklahoma Construction Industries board website, which is a CIB.ok.gov. And there is good information on the licensing requirements and the procedure to go about becoming licensed.

In Oklahoma, actions based in tort, and for our purposes we’ll stick with negligence, there’s a two year statute of limitations. Now that period doesn’t begin to run until the negligent act is discovered or when it should have been discovered through reasonable care diligence. With respect to the statute of repose in Oklahoma, it’s a 10 year statute, so any negligent act discovered outside that 10 year period would not be actionable. However, within that 10 year period, the statute of limitations will come into play where an injured party would have two years to take action.

When someone builds a house or sells a house, a new home, there is an implied warranty that the new home is or will be completed in a workman-like manner, and is or will be reasonably fit for occupancy as a place of abode in absence of an agreement to the contrary, and that such implied warranty exists as a matter of law, both when the home is being sold completely constructed and when, at the time of the sale, the home is being constructed or is to be constructed.