Articles Posted in Workers’ Compensation

Whether you work in construction and are injured in a construction site accident in Miami or anywhere in South Florida or whether you work in an office and suffer serious injuries due to inadequate security in your Miami or South Florida workplace, there are laws to protect you. Although you may be entitled to workers compensation in Miami or your home town, keep in mind that the costs of your injury can be very significant and can include:

1) Loss of income. One of the first expenses you will encounter is loss of income. You may not be able to work for weeks or months due to your injury, and this will reduce and eventually stop the income you have coming in – even if you have insurance and other benefits.

2) Medical costs. Whether you have been injured in the workplace or have been in a work-related car collision in Miami or another community, you may be rushed to the hospital and you may have immediate medical costs. These may include an ambulance to the hospital, surgery, emergency medical care, follow-up care, and other medical expenses. Medical expenses for catastrophic injury can be enormous. Someone who has suffered a serious spinal cord injury in Miami, for example, can spend more than $100 000 for medical expenses in the first year of injury alone.

3) Long-term medical costs. You may need home care or rehabilitation – long-term costs that can really add up.

4) Incidental medical costs and “optional” medical costs. Even if your workplace offers benefits and medical coverage, insurance carriers may not cover some costs – such as so called “cosmetic surgery” to heal scars or “cosmetic” dental surgery to replace teeth. Therapy and counseling may also not be covered, even though you may require these types of services to heal fully. In addition, most serious injuries have multiple incidental medical costs. You may need to pay for braces for soft tissue injuries, for example, or for crutches or a cane.

5) Property damage. If you have been in a traffic or truck accident in Miami or another South Florida community, you may also face substantial costs in repairing or replacing your vehicle and other property damaged in the collision.

6) Transportation costs. If you are seriously injured after your workplace accident, you may not be able to drive. You may need to rely on taxi cabs or another service to travel to doctor’s appointments and to complete everyday tasks. If you are injured for weeks or months, these costs can be significant.

7) Accessibility costs. You may need to alter your workplace, car, or home to make it accessible to you while you recover. For example, if you are in a wheelchair you may need to stay in a different residence or may need to install a wheelchair ramp. Having your home and car altered can be very expensive and in many cases insurance will not fully cover these costs.

8) Long-term loss of income potential. If your injuries are serious, you may not be able to return to your regular line of work. This often happens with serious construction site accidents in Miami and across Florida, for example. If you are forced to take a lower-paying job once you recover partly, you may be making less and struggling financially.

Continue reading →

During the summer, many teens look forward to getting their first job. Unfortunately, many minors and young workers are seriously injured or killed while at work. Teens may be vulnerable to workplace injuries because they may be less familiar with workplace safety issues and have less experience with work safety standards. They may also be more hesitant to complain about unsafe working conditions. If your teen is working this summer, consider these tips for helping your teen stay safe at work:

1) Discuss work safety issues with your teen. Help your teen identify safety issues at work and discuss how they can reduce the risks of injuries and accidents at work. If your teen needs work boots, goggles, and other safety equipment, make sure that they have the proper supplies to do their job correctly.

2) Make sure your teen has a safe way of getting to and from work. Miami car accidents are very common during the morning after afternoon work commute. Make sure that your teen’s car is in good condition or consider having your teen tale public transit.

3) Ensure your teen has the proper safety training to do their job safely. Even simple jobs and entry-level jobs have their risks. Ask your teen about the training they have received and ensure that the training they receive addresses safety issues.

4) Be especially wary about jobs with little supervision. Some enterprising teens create their own businesses – such as painting houses and mowing lawns – rather than working for someone else. However, teens need to be aware of insurance and safety issues with these types of microbusinesses as well.

5) Consider workplace surroundings. Can your teen get to and from transportation before and after work safely? Is the area safe and well-lit? Many Miami premises liability accidents occur because the area surrounding a workplace is not safe and employees are injured getting to and from work.

6) Make sure your teen understands their role in staying safe at work. Teens can reduce their risk of an injury at work by focusing on their job and by doing their job as safely as they know how. Teens should also be aware of Miami workers compensation laws as well as laws that protect workers. Make sure that your teen knows that if they see unsafe working conditions, they should report the problem to their boss. Teens should also understand that they can refuse any task that is dangerous. Some young employees feel that they cannot say anything if they see something unsafe at work, so it is important that teens understand that they can and should speak up.

Continue reading →

The workplace should be a place to develop a career and build lasting friendships and camaraderie. For too many Miami employees, however, the workplace is a dangerous place. Each year, workers are seriously injured in Miami slip and fall accidents, car accidents and other workplace accidents. Unfortunately, many workplace injury victims also have a difficult time getting the compensation and support they need after their accident.

While workplaces have implemented many safety rules and regulations to keep workers safe, some statistics show that certain workplaces are not getting safer. For those who work on farms, for example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that fatal farm accidents have increased by 15% in the past two years alone. In 2009, 127 people were killed in farm accidents while in 2010 156 people were killed in farm accidents. Many other workplaces do not have better accident statistics.

There are many possible reasons why workplace accidents still occur with such frequency. One is that employees today switch jobs and even careers more often. In workplaces where there is a high turnover, there also tends to be a higher instance of injuries, in part because employees do not develop the familiarity with the workplace – and the potential hazards of the workplace. Another issue has to do with employer and employee compliance. While there are rules in place about worker safety, not all employers follow the rules and correctly train new employees about safety measures. Not all employees follow the safety policies, either.

Some workplace injuries may also be the product of our multitasking lives. As people work longer hours and try to jam more work and tasks into the day, many employees end up trying to do multiple things at once. In many jobs, however, distraction can lead to catastrophic accidents. Truck drivers who try to check their voice mail or text messages in their workplace on the road, for example, are likely to eventually cause Miami truck accidents.

When workers are injured in Miami workplace accidents, their journey is often only beginning. Many workers find that while Miami workers compensation laws are intended to protect them and ensure that they get speedy compensation for injuries, in many cases this does not happen. Due in part to concerns about insurance fraud, many insurance carriers are looking over Miami workers compensation claims carefully and in some cases legitimately injured workers have difficulty getting the compensation they deserve. Many injured workers need to turn to Miami personal injury attorneys in order to get the assistance and compensation they need.

Now that summer is almost here, it is time to get serious about workplace safety. With seasonal workers and teen employees joining the ranks of summer employment, now is the time for employers to set up training sessions about safety for new and existing employees. This is also a good time to review safety procedures at work and to frankly discuss any possible workplace hazards in your workplace. Everyone has a role to play in preventing workplace accidents in Miami.

Continue reading →

On January 6 of this year, a worker in Coral Gables was rushed to hospital with serious injuries after a crane accident. A crane was lifting a crate containing equipment when the crane dropped and struck a worker in the chest. The accident highlights some of the dangers that workers face on the job. Each year, Coral Gables personal injuries occur in the workplace, and some of those injuries are permanent or even fatal. Even injuries that take weeks or months to heal, however, can mean substantial medical costs and lost income.

Many victims who are injured in the workplace suffer serious injuries, including Coral Gables slip and fall injuries, broken bones, Coral Cables head injuries, spinal cord injuries, and more. In many cases, workers assume that insurance will cover all the costs of their treatment and recovery, but this is not always the case. In many instances, insurance covers immediate medical costs and lost income, but many so-called “optional” treatments and long-term care may not be fully covered.

In addition, some workers have trouble with their Coral Gables workers compensation claims. Due to concerns about insurance fraud, many insurance companies now review claims with a wary eye, in some cases even hiring private investigators to ensure that a claimant is really injured. This can be stressful, but the concerns about fraud can also mean that victims with legitimate cases have trouble recovering fair compensation for their injuries.

There are of course many things that can be done to make workplaces safer. Employers have an obligation to ensure that their workplace is as safe as possible. This may mean holding safety training, ensuring that work stations are clean and safe, and providing needed signs and safety equipment. When employers are negligent in providing safe workplaces, personal injury claims are the usual result if injuries occur.

No matter what precautions are taken, however, some accidents do occur. If you have been injured in a Coral Gables workplace accident, you may want to consult with an experience Coral Gables personal injury attorney before you make any decisions about your case. Your injury costs may be greater than you imagine and you may be eligible for more compensation that you realize. However, there is a statute of limitations, which means that you must file a legal claim within a specific time frame after your injury. In addition, accepting workers compensation can affect your ability to pursue legal claims against liable parties. For these reasons, it is important to consult with an experienced attorney in your case soon after your accident. A good attorney can investigate the accident, can help you understand the true costs of your injury, and can aggressively pursue fair compensation on your behalf.

Continue reading →

According to statistics, an American dies every eight minutes due to work-related injury or illness. Workplace injuries and illnesses can happen at any workplace, although some jobs are assuredly more dangerous than others. Workplace injuries can include Florida slip and fall injuries, asbestos exposure, workplace car accidents, and more.

Workplace accidents can be devastating because they can result in high medical costs as well as lost income. In some cases, workplace accidents lead to tragic fatalities. There is workers compensation insurance and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to protect workers, but some experts say that these resources do not help enough. According to some experts, OSHA does not have the resources or funding to prevent workplace accidents and in many cases workers compensation fails to provide workers with the lost income and medical cost coverage needed to recover from an accident.

When a worker is injured on the job, the employer’s workers compensation covers lost income and the medical costs of the injury. However, by accepting workers compensation, workers largely waive their right to pursue legal action against their employer. The aim of workers’ compensation is to provide quick insurance for injured workers as well as protection for employers. Employers who pay into workers compensation face less liability for workplace injuries – barring severe negligence – and employers are not supposed to wait until the case is investigated before getting funds.

In reality, experts say that the system lets workers down. In many cases, employees find that workers compensation covers only the bare minimum of costs and still leaves them without the funds to get quality medical care and to pay the bills. As well, the waiver of legal action is a serious impediment. In many cases, legal action against employers can result in a fairer settlement as well as safety changes which help other employees, some argue. Some experts feel that this facet of workers’ compensation means that employees get compensation for injuries at too high a cost.

Another problem is insurance fraud. Some employers claim to have coverage but employees find out – often only too late – that employers are not in fact covered. As well, concerns over insurance fraud by employees sometimes leads to accusations against employees, delayed claim payments, and other hassles, which places a great deal of financial stress on injured workers.

Continue reading →

Two recent tragedies highlight a basic challenge in Florida law. The deaths of two workers at two of the state’s biggest amusement parks stress the limitations placed on surviving family members when a loved one is killed on the job. In one case, a SeaWorld worker was killed by an orca during training for a show. At Walt Disney World, a Florida train accident on the monorail caused the death of a Disney World employee. In both cases, state workers compensation laws mean that the families will be able to receive a maximum $150 000 for income lost and an additional $7 500 for funeral expenses.

This is because in Florida when an employee is injured at work, the employee has legal resource only through workers’ compensation. The company pays into an insurance company and if an employee is injured this company pays workers’ compensation benefits to pay for lost income, medical costs, and related costs. In turn, the company is safe from Florida personal injury lawsuits and the workers does not have to prove fault while still getting payment for necessary expenses.

In many cases, the system works. However, in cases where there is a loss of life, workers’ compensation benefits can seem small compared to the scope of the tragedy. As a result, Florida law does allow some exceptions to the usual workers’ compensation restrictions. For example, in cases where employers do something which is “substantially certain” to cause fatalities or injuries or in cases where employers harm employees intentionally, employees and their families can pursue a legal claim.

Of course, this can pose a legal challenge. It means that an injured worker must be able to show in court that the employer should have known that the actions were likely to cause injury or fatalities. Proving what an employer knew or should have known often requires legal professionals as well as investigative professionals. For this reason, many injured workers seek the help of a Florida personal injury attorney.

A Florida personal injury attorney can show in court that an employer was negligent. As well, attorneys usually work with expert witnesses and professional investigators to gather evidence which may not be available to the injured worker. This evidence can help show whether an employer was in fact negligent and therefore liable.

Continue reading →

Unfortunately, many Florida workers are injured on the job each year. Many serious Florida burn injuries, amputations, head injuries, and spinal cord injuries are the result of workplace accidents. Unfortunately, a serious personal injury in a workplace can leave you unable to work. In serious cases, you may be unable to return to your job permanently.

In these cases, Florida workers compensation is meant to help you recover and to enjoy some income as you focus on your health. Unfortunately, due to insurance fraud and concerns over insurance costs, getting insurance money from workers compensation programs is getting increasingly difficult, even for workers who are genuinely injured. Florida workers sometimes find that insurance providers treat their claims with suspicion.

Working with a qualified Florida personal injury attorney after a workplace injury is important. Whether you have suffered a Florida slip and fall accident in the workplace or a car accident at work, a good attorney can help you understand your rights and the total costs of your injuries. He or she can also help negotiate with insurance providers so that you get the best claim amount possible, so that you are able to afford good quality medical care.

Working with a good Florida personal injury attorney can show you that you may qualify for more sources of claim money than you understood. For example, you may have a Florida products liability claim if a defective machine or product caused your injury. You may also have a legal claim. As well, you may qualify for benefits under the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program, a federal program. If you qualify, a good attorney can help ensure that you get all the benefits you are entitled to.

It is important to contact a good Florida personal injury attorney immediately after a workplace accident. Most of us rely very heavily on our jobs for income and without this income we may face eviction, foreclosure, and other problems. Also, if you are unable to return to work, you may not qualify for employee medical benefits, leaving you with substantial medical bills. A good attorney can ensure that you are compensated for lost income as well as your medical costs and other costs related to your accident.

Continue reading →

Workers compensation laws in Florida are designed to protect both workers and employers. However, in the event of amusement park accidents and workplace accidents, workplace laws can create challenges in workers compensation cases. Currently, the two largest amusement parks in Florida are involved in lawsuits stemming from workplace accidents. Walt Disney World is being sued after a monorail worker was killed in a Florida train accident at the park in 2009. SeaWorld Orlando is being sued after the drowning death of killer-whale trainer in early 2009.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush helped implement changes to workers compensation laws seven years ago, and critics of the changes claim that the new legislation heavily favors large employers such as the two amusement parks. Supporters of the laws argue that the legislation means standardized payments in workplace injury suits, which keeps costs down and protects business from large jury settlements. Supporters note that the laws make it less expensive and more attractive to do business in Florida.

Victims of workplace accidents may not agree. Originally, workers compensation was created to keep claims out of the courts. Florida employers are required to have workers compensation insurance to protect employees – and themselves – in workplace accident situations. When a workplace accident occurs, Florida workers compensation rules are supposed to cover lost wages and medical costs promptly and no matter who is at faulty. The advantage for workers is that they do not need to go through a long and expensive legal process to get needed money. However, workers also lose the ability to sue their employer to recover large sums.

If you have been injured in the workplace, whether it is a burn injury, brain injury, broken bone, spinal cord injury or other injury, your main priority is to get better as fully and as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, many injured workers have a hard time making claims under workers’ compensation or getting the full benefits they are entitled to by law. Part of the problem is that rising rates of insurance fraud have insurance providers tightening rules. Trying to work your way through red tape can be difficult, especially if you are injured and focused on getting better. However, there are things you can do to make the claims process easier:

1) If you have already been denied the benefits you think you are entitled, quickly file an application to have an administrative hearing with the workers’ compensation board for your state. Also, consider speaking with a good attorney who can represent you with the insurance provider. Speed is essential, here, however. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to file for those benefits.

2) Make certain that a workers’ compensation report has been correctly filed by your employer. Ask for a copy of the report for your records. If there are any errors on this report, this might be the cause of many hassles and problems.

In the workplace, computers have become mandatory at virtually every office and every work environment. Some people are doing all their work remotely from a computer. While computers make work easier, they also pose their own hazard. A number of people are reporting injuries from computers. Some of the more common injuries include:

1) Bumps and bruises. With computers getting smaller, it’s become very easy to drop a laptop or computer part on one’s hand, foot, or lap. While computers are getting smaller, however, they still weigh enough to cause serious injury. It is also easy to bump into computers or computer desks. Securing computers to workstations is one way to avoid such injuries. Leaving plenty of space around computer work stations can also reduce injuries.

2) Trip and fall accidents. Wires and cords on the floor pose a tripping hazard. Wireless networks are a great way to avoid trip and fall injuries. Another option is to tie all cords together and tie them to the leg of the computer workstation, so that the cords and wires are safely out of the way. Some workplaces are even having sockets and power outlets installed above workstations, so that cords and wires are not dragging on the floor.