Employment Law Information

Archive for the ‘Workers Compensation’ Category

State laws that address employees hurt while working are usually called workers compensation laws. Before these laws were written, a worker hurt at work would file a traditional lawsuit against their employer to receive payments for their injury. These lawsuits were challenging because the courts weren’t always persuaded that an employer’s negligence caused the worker’s injury. If a court did find for an employee, the employer would be ordered to pay “make whole” damages to the worker. Easing this legal system was the purpose of workers compensation.

This system could provide very fluid and inequitable monetary damages to workers, including paying them for the remainder of their lives. And, as noted, it was challenging for employees to file suits that involved proving employer fault.

To address these complaints, the various states developed new systems to address payments to employees for workplace injuries. Called workers compensation, these new laws become the exclusive remedy for injured workers seeking money from their employers.

Although each state has written its worker compensation law differently, they usually share five elements. First, the employee and employer must be subject to the law. Next, the worker must have been injured. An accident must have caused the worker’s injury. The accident and injury had to have arisen out of the employer-employee relationship. Finally, they must have happened in the course of that relationship.

Many employers and workers are covered by state workers compensation laws. Various states exclude different occupational classifications (like household employees) or whole industries (like agricultural companies or government). And some exclusions are made based on company size, not including employers with less than three workers for example.

Generally, all states require a physical injury. Physical being the requirement.

That physical injury must have been the result of a one-time accident. Because the working world is constantly evolving, state lawmakers continue to adapt this element. One change has been to include diseases that are transmitted in the workplace, like when a hospital worker is accidentally exposed to HIV. Another change includes conditions that develop through repetition over time, like carpal tunnel disease.

The arising out of employment element looks at the risks of the injury involved. If the risk is clearly associated with the employment context, it is generally said to arise out of the employment. For example, there’s a fair risk of a tree branch falling from a tree and hitting a logger in the head. The same cannot be said for a doctor. The injury would likely arise out of employment for the logger, but probably not the doctor.

Finally, the course of employment elements examines if the employee was working when the accident happened. Being on the clock, and the time and location of the accident are considered. But the totality of the circumstances will often dictate when an injury appears to be outside of the traditional work context.

If a worker can show that his injury meets all five of the above elements, he will recover monetary damages based on a preset rate included in the workers compensation law.

These the purpose of workers compensation systems was to eliminate court battles, but those battles continue over the various issues involved. For those seeking information related to their own or their employees’ work site injuries, they are encouraged to meet with a workers compensation lawyer licensed to practice in their jurisdiction.

Do you believe you need a workers compensation attorney? If so, then we know how to find workers comp attorneys with only a click of that button. Just check us out and see if you can find the right ones.

Your employer is required by law to carry workers compensation insurance for all of his employees. This way if an employee is injured on the job, the insurance company can pay for it in full. If you will be out of work for a while, because of the injury, you will need a workers compensation attorney, and you should know what workers compensation attorneys cost.

A workers compensation attorney should not bill you a single penny, until the case is resolved and closed. He does not get paid by you, your employer, or the workers compensation insurance company of the employer, until you receive your award. The award involved will include pain and suffering.

Because you are entitled to work in a safe place, your employer needs to provide this for you and all of the employees. Government agencies sometimes monitor work places in order to make sure that they are not in violation of any safety rules. They could have scheduled appointments to check this out, or they may surprise the employers.

In restaurants, the agency will make sure that there are no puddles of water on the floor, in order to prevent slips and falls. In warehouse situations, items could be stacked in an improper fashion. There are certain reports that will be submitted for these violations, and the employers will need to correct the problem in a timely manner. If the problems are not addressed and attended to, their workers compensation insurance premiums can increase.

Of course, accidents do happen. Sometimes it does not matter how neatly organized an office environment is, and how safe everyone tries to be. But when it happens in the work place, the employer is responsible for your doctor bills and to a degree your pain and suffering.

Nobody gets rich on workers comp claims. And that includes the attorney that handles them. Typically, in even the most serious accidents, you may be out of work for years, only to receive a small percentage of your paycheck all the time that you are absent from the work place. You will need to find some other means of supporting yourself, and that is usually very difficult since you are injured. If someone else in the household works, it should lessen the burden, as you heal and wait for your final hearing and award.

A formula is set in stone for most of the states. That is, no matter how much your attorney fights for you, your award will only be a certain amount. It is a percentage that is figured according to what you would have been making, plus your pain and suffering.

After the hearings are over, and an award is paid to you, the attorney gets paid. He actually takes a percentage of the award, and that is somewhere in the neighborhood of about ten percent. When you are injured on the job, and you need an attorney, shop around. You need to know what workers compensation attorneys cost, before you go ahead and hire one.

Using an experienced and professional workers compensation attorney will give you the advantage you need to resolve your case quickly and easily. When you are looking for workers comp attorneys, finding those that focus on your specific type of injuries will be very helpful.

Rights of Workers Injured on a Barge

By Adam Smith T
A construction worker injured while working on a pier, bridge or permanently moored barge may be able to recover damages in addition to those provided under Worker’s Compensation coverage. Under Worker’s Compensation law and under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (“LHWCA”), an employee is barred from bringing a cause of action in court against his employer. However, the worker may be able to also bring a lawsuit alleging claims under New York’s Labor Law against the owner of the property where the injury occurred or against the general contractor in charge, if they were not the worker’s employer.

Thus, in a recent decision in a New York appellate court, it was determined that a worker on a barge permanently moored to a pier on the Gowanus Bay that operated as a power plant could bring a lawsuit alleging claims under the Labor Law against the owner of the barge. In that case, the worker was employed by a subcontractor who had men on the barge to perform major repairs to the power plant. The worker was injured after he was not given the proper equipment to lower himself approximately 15 feet to the base of an exhaust well to do welding work. The absence of proper safety equipment caused the plaintiff to fall and suffer injury.

As a result of the accident, plaintiff was awarded benefits under the LHWCA because he was injured on “navigable” waters. The LHWCA establishes a comprehensive federal workers’ compensation program that provides longshoremen and harbor workers and their families with medical, disability, and survivor benefits for work-related injuries and death regardless of fault. While workers who receive workers’ compensation payments from their employers for injuries sustained in the course of their employment are precluded from seeking any other remedy against their employers, an injured worker may be able to bring an action in negligence or under the Labor Law against a third-party owner of the property where the injury occurred or a general contractor, without losing his or her worker-compensation rights.

The worker in this case was able to prevail on a claim under New York Labor Law § 240(1), which creates a duty upon property owners to provide safety equipment to protect workers against falling from a height. Notably, the responsibility of owners and general contractors to an injured worker is absolute in work related injuries of height-related injuries.

The best way to find more information on cases related to recovery and compensation from personal injury, medical malpractices, construction accident injuries, premises and property cases, etc. is to visit a New York Trial Law firm at www.triallaw1.com.

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