The expensive mistake is assuming your boss gets to decide fault. They do not.

If you were riding for work in Watertown and a driver failed to yield, ran a red light, or turned into you, your employer can argue you caused it, but that does not make it true and it does not end your claim. In South Dakota, a work injury claim and a third-party injury claim are two separate systems.

For workers' compensation, ordinary fault usually is not the issue. If you were hurt in the course of your job, your employer generally cannot dodge the claim just by saying you should have seen the vehicle sooner.

For a claim against the other driver, South Dakota uses the slight-versus-gross comparative negligence rule under SDCL 20-9-2. That means you can still recover if your negligence was only slight compared with the other driver's negligence. If they convince a jury you were more than slight at fault, that third-party recovery can be blocked. That is where people lose real money, including pain-and-suffering damages, which South Dakota does not cap.

To prove fault and protect yourself from being pushed out, gather and preserve:

• The crash report from Watertown Police, the Codington County Sheriff, or the South Dakota Highway Patrol if it happened on I-29, U.S. 81, or U.S. 212
• Photos of the scene, bike damage, road marks, signals, and visibility conditions
• Witness names, phone numbers, and any nearby business camera footage
• Your work schedule, dispatch records, GPS route, delivery logs, or supervisor texts showing you were on the job
• Your helmet, riding gear, and the motorcycle in the same post-crash condition
• Medical records from Prairie Lakes Hospital and any VA treatment records, because the VA system and a civilian injury claim do not automatically share information
• Any text, email, write-up, schedule cut, or supervisor statement blaming you after the crash

If it was job-related, give your employer written notice within 3 business days and keep a copy. That creates a paper trail before someone rewrites what happened.