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The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., recently conducted a study that examined the public’s perception of workers’ compensation benefits.

One of the major findings in the study was that many employees don’t understand that they are protected by workers’ compensation.

Of those surveyed, 38 percent didn’t know that medical costs would be covered for an on-the-job injury. Twenty-five percent of these people thought that their employers’ insurance would cover their injury. Eight percent believed their employee’s disability insurance would kick in and five percent thought the employer would fork up the money to pay for medical expenses.

For those who had gone through the workers’ compensation experience, a third didn’t know who paid their expenses after they were injured on the job.

Fifteen percent of those polled didn’t expect to be paid at all, or if anything, possibly a small portion of their wages while they recovered at home from an injury.

The numbers also revealed that 51 percent of the employees surveyed would consider a return to work option versus 26 percent that wouldn’t be interested in returning to work before full recovery.

“Our research reinforces what I have always believed: while workers' compensation is a vital safety net for employees, there is a lot of confusion about who pays for what,” said Annette Sanchez, senior vice president, Specialty Risk Services, The Hartford's third-party claims administrator. “Even though the system has been around since 1909, there are still a number of employees who erroneously believe there is little or no help for them.”