Tag Archive for workers compensation

Jennifer Atkinson | June 13, 2011
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Construction Accident Attorneys

Construction site jobs are among the most dangerous work in the U.S.  Each year, thousands of Washington workers are seriously injured or killed in construction site accidents.  Some of the most frequent injuries include falling, crane accidents, scaffolding accidents, hazards from compressed gases, defective machinery or equipment, nail gun mishaps, explosions, and welding or cutting accidents.  According to some industry estimates, 40% of construction site fatalities involve electrocution.

Construction accidents cause Washington workers to suffer more than just serious injury; employees also face financial hardships, the inability to support families, long-term medical complications and expenses, surgery, and sometimes life-long difficulties maintaining employment.

When the responsible party is the workers’ employer, a coworker, or even the injured worker him- or herself, claims and benefits are managed by the Department of Labor and Industries.  However, if a construction site injury is caused by the negligence of someone other than a direct employer – or if accidents occur at a location other than the place of employment – workers may have the right to additional compensation and benefits through a third-party liability claim.  In distinction from workers’ compensation benefits, there is virtually no limit to the settlement amount in a third-party liability claim. This can give injured workers access to additional medical benefits and wage-loss benefits, and further compensate them for personal pain and suffering as well as loss of services for dependents or a spouse.

From a legal perspective, construction accident claims are highly complex. Construction sites are demanding and rapidly-changing environments where projects are managed under intense time constraints, and projects often involve multiple businesses, contractors, sub-contractors, rental companies, property owners, workers, and equipment manufacturers and owners.  Simply pinpointing the party responsible for an accident can be overwhelming.  This means that victims without skillful and experienced legal representation can face an endless series of questions and criteria in assessing the viability of their construction accident claim: what personnel were present on the site when an accident occurred? What machinery or equipment was involved? Who manufactured, owned, installed, or operated it? Are there available witnesses?  A construction site attorney with comprehensive knowledge of third-party liability and workers’ compensation laws can be crucial to the success of a case. The Construction Site Accident Attorneys at Emery Reddy are experienced in maximizing compensation that workers receive from serious injury and wrongful death cases.

Our attorneys have successfully negotiated and litigated construction site accident cases involving defective products that are commonly used in commercial building projects.  Each year, poorly manufactured or improperly maintained construction equipment causes thousands of serious injuries and fatalities.  Life-altering injuries and deaths, for instance, commonly result from scaffolding that is incorrectly installed or that fails to follow L&I and OSHA safety regulations.  Rental companies that do not properly care for or install equipment may be held accountable in a third-party liability claim.

While some workers are tempted to accept a quick settlement from an insurance company, this rarely reflects the full cost of personal, medical, financial and professional damages suffered by the injured worker.  What is in the insurer’s best interest is generally not in the best interest of the victim, since insurance companies will look for every available means to pay claimants as little as they can.

Emery Reddy’s Construction Accident Attorneys can help client recover the maximum compensation to which they are entitled by Washington law. As committed advocates of Washington workers, we take pride in our successful record of securing benefits for the injured and disabled, and will guide you through every step of your personal injury, third party liability or workers’ compensation claim.  Contact one of our attorneys today for a free consultation.

Category: Worker Injury, workers compensation, Workplace Accident | Tags: , ,
Jennifer Atkinson | April 12, 2011
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Tsunami Aftermath: Disaster, Contract Labor, and Workers’ Comp

They have become known in the press around the world as the “Fukushima 50,” the 50 anonymous workers who venture into the dark, flooded depths of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the wake of the March earthquake and tsunami that sent the plant’s systems spinning perilously out of control.  Ethicists and labor rights activists wring their hands over the morality of sending in civil workers into what is certain to be a radioactive environments while editorials and politicians praise their bravery and selflessness in the face of disaster.

In the wake of their acts of bravery, labor advocates began to ask important questions about these nuclear workers’ access to health care and workers’ compensation benefits should they suffer any ill effects from their important work.  After all, a startling “88 percent” of Japanese nuclear workers are contract workers with uncertain access to benefits, according to the NYTimes.com.

The New York Times noted these workers are “emblematic of Japan’s two-tiered work force, with an elite class of highly paid employees at top companies and a subclass of laborers who work for less pay, have less security and receive fewer benefits.”  The Times reports that the medical care and benefits for these workers tends to dwindle as you work your way down the ladder from contracted worker, to subcontracted, to even sub-subcontracted.  Essentially “nuclear migrants,” these workers attempt to conceal injuries or exposure to radiation so they can retain their employment.

As the United States re-evaluates its own nuclear power industry, the spotlight has shifted to how the U.S. treats those workers who are asked to put themselves in jeopardy in what is essentially a work situation.  Just today, Scientific American reports that the U.S. nuclear safety regulator is investigating how three nuclear workers in Nebraska were exposed to radiation in a workplace setting in early April. Scientific American writes, “The three workers triggered radiation alarms by incorrectly moving a radioactive tube on April 3. They immediately set the tube down and fled the area.  Nebraska Public Power District, which operates the Cooper Nuclear Station, does not believe the workers were exposed to radiation above regulatory limits, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a release.”  There is no word if these workers were subcontractors or full-time employees.

Of course, if the United States suffered a disaster so severe that it forced not only nuclear workers, but emergency workers to enter extreme environments to save lives, the most obvious, and unfortunate parallel is 9/11.  Chris Bragg wrote as late as 2007 that “many cleanup workers who rushed to help the city in its time of need say they have developed serious physical conditions due to that work: 756 cleanup volunteers and many more paid workers have submitted claims. Many claimants say, however, the Workers’ Compensation Board has been slow in helping them get back on their feet.”  Workers employed by the city, such as firefighters and police officers, go through a tailored compensation process.  But contract workers are at the mercy of the city’s Workers’ Compensation Board, and literally hundreds of articles over the years have detailed their struggle.

Labor & Industries experts will continue to watch the drama unfolding in Japan with an eye to how workers in the U.S. would be treated in similar circumstances.  If anything, the situation reveals the need for greater protection of subcontracted workers of all stripes, especially in terms of workers’ compensation, before a disaster happens and workers must rush into the unknown.  If you have been injured and have questions about your employment status as it relates to workers’ compensation, contact an expert Washington Labor & Industries Attorney.

Category: Employment Discrimination, Uncategorized, Unfair Pay Practices, Worker Injury, Worker Rights, workers compensation | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Jennifer Atkinson | February 21, 2011
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Public vs. Private: Worker Denied Benefits After Posting Sex Videos

The scenario is familiar: a person posts videos of him or herself engaged in sexual activities on the Internet, believing that in the infinite ebb and flow of global information, this particular bit of titillation will be lost in the wash. Then, someone who is interested in the honesty and fidelity of the amateur pornographer finds the online video and declares betrayal.

And yet for a North Carolina health care worker, the offended party was his employer. And the form of betrayal?  Workers’ Compensation Fraud.

The case highlights a troubling trend in the increasing intrusion of employers into the private, even intimate life, of their workers.  The case also reveals that without proper protection from workers’ compensation attorneys, the government is ready to support the employer’s effort to do so.

According to media reports, the plaintiff in the case  worked as a health care technician at a residential health care facility.  After being the victim of a physical struggle with a patient, the plaintiff reported a back injury and began to collect benefits in March 2007.

Court records reveal the employer began to hear reports that there were video postings on the Internet of the plaintiff engaged in sexual acts while he was receiving workers’ compensation benefits. Armed with these rumors, the health care facility hired a private investigator to substantiate these claims.

It seems the investigator did… tracking down a whopping 107 videos. Adding to the already provocative nature of the claims, the investigator discovered the other participant in the videos was a co-worker.   Citing this information, the employer fired the two workers in January 2008 for personal misconduct. While these dismissals themselves bring up a host of troubling questions about the rights workers have to autonomy and intimacy in their private lives, it is the further use of these videos that seem to represent the biggest threats to workers’ rights under workers’ compensation laws.

The Employer had a physician review several videos and testify that the acts depicted should have caused the worker substantial pain and suffering. Although the worker argued that the videos were filmed well before the date of the injury, the government met this claim with skepticism. In November 2007, the full North Carolina Industrial Commission ruled the worker was not credible and denied his claims to worker’s compensation.

In a world where videos of injured workers playing golf or working around the yard are aired by anti-labor  media outlets bent on stirring outrage in the public, the focus on a sensational sex video in this case and the seeming moral approbation attached to the worker by the Commission cannot be dismissed. And yet if we are to eject the puritanical lens through which the Commission no doubt viewed the case, there are even more deeply troubling trends in the erosion of workers’ rights suggested here.

The most obvious problem with the decision is the expectation that a worker must not maintain a functioning private life in the face of a work injury.  In effect, the Employer was arguing that the worker must completely forgo sexual relations to be credible in his claim to worker’s compensation.  And yet, if the worker could no longer have sexual relations with spouse, he or she could claim “loss of consortium” — i.e. the claim that the injury prevents one from having sex with a spouse.

Ultimately what is at stake here is the right for a worker to accept pain to engage in acts of private, human intimacy even while he has the right not to experience pain in the performance of work duties.

Workers that suspect their rights to privacy and autonomy are being tested or violated by employers should immediately contact an experienced Seattle or Washington Labor and Industries Lawyer to protect them.

Category: Uncategorized, Worker Injury, workers compensation, Workplace Accident | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Jennifer Atkinson | October 21, 2010
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Workplace Injuries Declined in 2009

In an October 21 press release, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an encouraging decline in workplace injuries and illnesses. Across much of the U.S., workers compensation claims are down in many industries, particularly construction. Among private employers, nonfatal accidents declined to a rate of 3.6 cases for every 100 full-time workers in 2009, down from 3.9 per 100 in 2008. BLS also announced a drop in the total number of cases in the U.S., which declined from 3.7 million in 2008 to 3.3 million in 2009.

“While the reported decline in workplace injuries and illnesses is encouraging, 3.3 million workplace injuries and illnesses are 3.3 million too many,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. “No worker should fear being injured or made sick for a paycheck.”

Solis emphasized the importance of thorough and accurate reporting in the case of workplace injuries. Solid record-keeping for workers compensation claims, she stated, can “serve as the basis for employer programs to investigate injuries and prevent future occurrences.” The Labor Secretary indicated that most employers recognize this obligation and do their best to correct conditions in which worker injuries occur, but pointed out that too many still do not. “That is why my department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is aggressively working to ensure the completeness and accuracy of injury data compiled by the nation’s employers. We are concerned about the widespread existence of programs that discourage workers from reporting injuries, and we will continue to issue citations and penalties to employers that intentionally under-report workplace injuries.”

Solis concluded the press release by reiterating the importance of adherence to workers’ compensation guidelines and regulations that prevent workplace injury. “Too many Americans suffer each year from preventable injuries or illnesses they received while on the job. Even in these difficult economic times, we must keep in mind that no job is a good job unless it’s a safe job.”

Category: Worker Injury, workers compensation, Workplace Accident | Tags: , , , , , ,
Jennifer Atkinson | October 11, 2010
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L&I Fines Tesoro $2.39 Million for Fatal Workplace Accident

Last week, the Department of Labor & Industries released findings from its investigation of the April explosion at the Tesoro plant in Anacortes, which killed seven people.  L&I determined that the accident could have been prevented, and has issued a $2.39 million fine against Tesoro, citing the company for 39 “willful violations” and 5 “serious” violations of Washington state workplace safety and health regulations.  In an Oct 4th press conference, an agency spokesperson noted that, “While no amount of money can reflect the value of a person’s life, this is the largest fine in the agency’s history.”

Under state law, a “willful” violation occurs when an employer knowingly breaks a rule and exhibits an obvious indifference to correcting that violation; a “serious” violation is an incident involving a substantial probability of serious worker injury or death.

The accident occurred at Tesoro on April 2, 2010.  L&I concluded that the explosion was located in the refinery’s Naphtha Hydrotreater Unit, and occurred as workers were restoring a bank of 40-year-old heat exchangers into service after they had been shut down for maintenance. One of the heat exchangers ruptured, releasing hydrocarbon gas that quickly ignited.  Investigators determined that equipment was never tested in any way that would have indicated the problem.

L&I also found that for years, the exchangers had leaked extremely volatile and flammable vapor and liquid from its connections, particularly when the machinery was being started up or following a shutdown.  The company’s repair efforts, which included very simple clamps, were shockingly inadequate.  When these failed to correct the problem, Tesoro’s workers were forced to disperse the flammable vapors with tubes known as “steam lances” in order to try to prevent ignition. Employees carried out this hazardous work wearing hard hats, gloves, goggles and basic flame-resistant coveralls, which was insufficient protection for the hazards to which they were exposed.

According to the agency’s press release, “L&I inspectors found that Tesoro disregarded a host of workplace safety regulations, continued to operate failing equipment for years, postponed maintenance, inadequately tested for potentially catastrophic damage and failed to adequately protect their workers from significant risk of injury and death.”

Killing seven workers, the Tesoro explosion was the worst industrial tragedy since L&I began enforcing the state’s workplace safety law 37 years ago under the Washington Industrial Safety and Health Act.

Governor Chris Gregoire was among several officials to remark on the workplace accident and tragic loss of lives.  “The loss of seven lives is a tragedy not just for their loved ones but for our entire state. What makes the loss of these lives all the more painful is that these deaths could have been prevented,” she said. “I believe the action L&I is announcing today and the record fine they have assessed against Tesoro sends a clear message that these tragedies are not acceptable.”

Addressing a group of Seattle workers’ compensation attorneys,  Dr. Michael Silverstein—the assistant director of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health—reiterated the Governor’s remarks: “If Tesoro had tested their equipment appropriately and had followed their other safety requirements, we believe that they would have found the cracks that caused this explosion and, either by replacing the equipment or repairing it, prevented this from happening.”

Category: Workplace Accident | Tags: , , ,
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