In Massachusetts, the workers’ compensation system is codified in a section of the Massachusetts General Laws known as the Workers’ Compensation Act (WCA). The WCA provides that whenever an employee is injured on the job, that injured employee shall be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits, and the worker shall not…
Workers’ compensation is a benefit afforded to almost all employees in Massachusetts, including those who work primarily for tips. While this work arrangement is common in restaurants and other service industry jobs, it can sometimes complicate the question of benefits owed in the event of a work-related injury. This is…
In a workers’ compensation action, claimant can request money for past medical bills associated with the on-the-job injury, lost wages, future medical expenses and the cost of rehabilitation. Unlike in a civil personal injury lawsuit, the claimant cannot ask for benefits for pain and suffering. However, also unlike a civil…
In a recent case from the Oklahoma Supreme Court, an injured employee filed a lawsuit against her employer, who allegedly refused to comply with valid orders from the workers’ compensation court following an on-the-job injury. Claimant further argued that this unwillingness to follow the orders of the workers’ compensation court…
It’s well-known that employees can be compensated for injuries they sustain the course of employment – and that includes medical expenses. However, what if you are injured in the course of receiving treatment for that work injury? Let’s say it is a case of medical malpractice. Should it be your…
A man shot repeatedly while sitting in a vehicle outside the convenience store where he worked. Now, the state high court in Pennsylvania has ruled that he is indeed eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits for those injuries. Judges with the Commonwealth Court ruled the injuries were indeed work-related, noting…
Black men and Hispanic immigrants have the highest rate of workplace injury in the nation, according to a new study on work injuries and disabilities. Researchers with the University of Southern California’s Schaeffer Center of Health Policy and Economics and the Keck School of Medicine and Boston University published the study in…
The Ohio Supreme Court considered recently a workers’ compensation case involving two types of disability claimed by the same worker. Although this isn’t a Massachusetts case, it’s worth a look from our Boston workers’ compensation lawyers because sister courts often take into account one another’s decisions in considering similar cases, especially those of first…
Occupational diseases are every bit as compensable under Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation law as work-related injuries. However, causation in cases of disease is not always as easily provable. For example, a fall at work can be easily connected to an injury, but how do you prove your carpal tunnel syndrome –…
In a case from the Supreme Court of Mississippi, an employee who worked at a petroleum refinery factory was seriously injured while on the job. However, he was not technically a statutory employee, but rather a contractor. In a typical situation, a contractor would not be able to obtain workers’…