Unfortunate little accidents that lead to serious injuries can and often do happen in any workplace.There’s no denying the obvious. But what do you do when you suffer from a work-related injury which was caused by the negligence of your employer?
The majority of companies will find any minuscule reason not to award you your workers’ compensation for a workplace accident and won’t entertain contacting their insurance company. You’ll be bombarded with medical bills and lose time from work. So, who’s going to have your back when you’re fighting for the compensation you deserve?
The Department of Labor reported that there were around 2.8 million nonfatal worker injuries reported by private industry employers in 2017.Hiring a workplace injury attorney gives you the best chance to receive proper compensation from your employer when you are injured by your employer’s own negligence.
We’re going to let you know about workers’ compensation laws, when you need to hire a workplace injury lawyer or other law firm and what they can do for you, as an injured worker, in your time of need.
Types of Workplace Accidents That Lead to Injuries
A work-related accident in the workplace that leads to a personal injury can happen at any time. The most common accidents and injuries in the workplace include:
- Burns from fires or chemicals in the workplace
- Car accidents while traveling for work
- Chemicals and toxic substances that can make you sick through exposure
- Defective equipment due to the manufacturer or being poorly maintained by the employer
- Defective structures that were either designed poorly or were installed improperly
- Falls, trips,and slips from poorly maintained areas
- Failure to mark dangerous areas such as spills or areas that are under construction
Fighting for Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Most major employers carry workers’ compensation insurance but when they analyze an accident, the company can be biased and deny their responsibility for your injury.
Furthermore, most workers’ compensation insurance policies won’t pay you the amount of money you deserve for your hospital bills, the money you’re losing from time off of work, and the mental health consequences that come along with an injury.
If you accept workers’ compensation for injury or illness from your employer, you can’t sue them outside of your workers’ compensation benefits. Once you receive these benefits, you are denying that your employer was liable for the accident or injuries sustained.
This is where a personal injury attorney comes into play. Your lawyer can help you get all the medical treatment and compensation benefits you are entitled to from your injury from your employer’s worker’s compensation policy.
However, some states don’t require companies to have a workers’ compensation insurance policy and the laws surrounding these insurance policies can differ for each state.
This can create an extra sticky situation for you in terms of receiving proper compensation.A work injury lawyer can help you in these frustrating situations as well. They’ll fight rigorously through a lawsuit with your employer or even any third parties involved in your accident.
With education and experienced workplace injury attorney, you’ll never have to worry about the financial situation your injury has put you in.
Injuries Due to an Employer’s Negligence
There are several different types of workplace accidents that can chaos in your life and that were caused by the negligence of your employer.
Since receiving worker’s compensation and medical expenses allows your employer to deny any responsibility for your accident, you may choose instead to fight your employer for negligence through a personal injury lawsuit.
Though almost every personal injury case is different, negligent situations in the workplace include:
- Negligent Hiring: When an employer hires, they need to do background checks. If a coworker is violent or dangerous and has a criminal history, they shouldn’t be hired. If your employer hires them anyway with the knowledge of their history or fails to do a background check, they aren’t doing their job. If this employee is the cause of your accident, it’s considered negligent hiring.
- Negligent Retention: Some accidents happen because you might have an unsafe coworker. When your employer hires an employee that continues to work unsafely, it’s up to the employer to either correctly train the employee or dismiss them. If not, someone can get hurt and that responsibility will fall on your employer.
- Negligent Supervision: Negligent supervision is when your employer isn’t supervising the work of you and your coworkers and this results in someone being injured at work. This can also tie in with negligent training.
- Negligent Training: If a coworker is the cause of your accident and it’s due to insufficient training, this falls back on your employer. It’s your employer’s responsibility to make sure every employee is trained and trained properly for your workplace needs. When an employee isn’t trained, this can cause accidents and injuries that could have been otherwise prevented.
How a Workplace Injury Attorney Proves Your Case for Negligence
In order to have a successful negligence case against your employer, your workplace injury attorney will have to prove four important factors in court.
These four elements include:
- Duty of Care: An injury attorney will have to prove that your employer owed you a duty of care. In exchange for your work and besides payment, your employer owes you a safe workplace.
- Duty of Care Was Breached: Once your injury lawyer proves that your employer owed you a duty of care, they must prove that that duty of care was breached. They will find evidence that proves this. This is where negligent hiring, negligent retention, negligent supervision,and negligent training come into the picture.
- Injury: Next, your attorney must prove that you were actually injured. This will include medical records of your injury from a proper doctor.
- Injury Due to Breach: Lastly, your attorney will have to prove that your employer’s breach of care of duty is the cause of your injury or injuries.
Conclusion
The right personal injury lawyers will be fully up to date on the very latest worker’s compensation laws and can make a big difference in either your claim or going to court for employer negligence. Their education and expertise in the injury field will guide you to the money you deserve for your injuries.