Articles Posted in Boston Work Accidents

Childcare in Boston is expensive. Even those who can afford to send their children to daycare may likely be on a wait list. For this reason, many families decide to go the route of hiring a nanny to come to their home and watch their children during the day.

Some families will even “share” a nanny with other families and the nanny will watch more than one child at one. While the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has long required parents to treat their nannies or other domestic workers as employees by withholding taxes and giving the employee a W-2 form, employers were not until now required to provide workers’ compensation for these employees or provide other protections normally reserved for employees.

According to a recent news article from WCVB 5, Massachusetts legislators have just passed an act to provide additional protections to domestic workers, and this act has been signed into law by Governor Deval Patrick.
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Watters v. Nissan N. Am., Inc., an appeal from the Supreme Court of Tennessee’s Special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel at Nashville, involved claimant who was injured while working at an automobile manufacturing plant.

Claimant was working for employer at an automobile plant in 2006, when he first started to notice an odd fatigue in his arms and shoulders while on the job. One day in January 2007, he felt a sharp pain in his right arm. He immediately reported this incident to his supervisor and went to see an orthopedic surgeon for diagnosis and treatment.

His doctor first examined him on January 17, 2007 and determined the best course of action for claimant was physical therapy and work restrictions. His employer reassigned claimant to work at a collet retainer machine, which did not require heavy lifting. His doctor also referred him to another doctor who specialized in physical rehabilitation. There was a concern claimant was suffering from a condition known as thoracic outlet syndrome or had problems with his cervical spine. This new doctor ordered an MRI, and an EMG. The results of both tests were normal.
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Marshall v. Vermont State Hospital, an appeal from the Supreme Court of Vermont, involved claimant who was working at a psychiatric hospital when he was injured on the job. He was employed as a psychiatric technician and orderly. Part of job responsibilities required him to work with abusive and often combative patients.

While lifting and otherwise working with patients, claimant was injured on the job in 1987, 1992, and 1997. All of these prior work-related injuries involved low back issues with pain radiating down his leg. Following each of these injuries, claimant had surgery. After the 1992 work injury, claimant’s surgeon determined claimant was 10 percent disabled. After the 1997 injury, his disability rating remained the same.

In June of 2002, claimant was still employed at the hospital and was helping to restrain a self-abusive patient. During this incident, patient managed to lift both his legs off the floor and shifted his entire body weight to claimant and another hospital worker. Claimant was injured and suffered immediate lower back pain with pain radiating down both legs. After this fourth accident, claimant never returned to work. He also did not have any additional surgical procedures and filed a workers’ compensation claim.

During claimant’s application process, his treating chiropractor submitted a report claiming whole patient impairment rating of five to eight percent for claimant’s lower back injury. Parties agreed upon this eight percent whole body disability rating and reduced this figure to six percent, taking into account his partial disability rating workers’ compensation commission had assigned claimant in 1992.
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The United States Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) administration is charged with the task of investigating industrial accidents and issuing fines to employers found in violation of safe labor requirements.

According to a recent news release from OSHA’s Boston office, a nationwide shipping company has allegedly exposed workers in Massachusetts and across the country to job-related injury and death due to use of defective forklifts.

After conducting numerous safety inspections during the past few years, OSHA has determined employer left knowingly dangerous and defective forklifts in service on multiple occasions. In response to its findings, OSHA has filed a report with Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission asking commissioners to require employer to remove all damaged, defective and otherwise unsafe forklifts from their job sites across the nation.
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Millions of Americans deal with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) on a regular basis. CTS is a type of repetitive stress injury (RSI) often caused by making repetitive movements such as working at a computer all day or working in a factory. It can also be caused by working in a supermarket, placing groceries on the shelves or operating a cash register.

Many people consider carpal tunnel syndrome as something you just have to deal with as part of living and working in our modern world. What many people don’t realize is CTS is often a work-related injury, which may qualify the injured employee for workers’ compensation benefits. These benefits can include past medical bills, future medical bills, and lost wages from time taken off work to seek treatment and deal with pain.

You could just take over-the-counter painkillers, or buy an arm wrap from a local drug store, and try to deal with the pain, but it will probably not get better on its own. It will probably get worse over time. This is because it is a degenerative condition caused by pressure being placed on the carpal tunnel. This pressure can pinch the bundle of nerves and tendons that controls movement in all parts of the hand. Pain can also radiate up the arm to the patient’s neck and shoulders.
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Nealy v. City of Santa Monica, an appeal from the Court of Appeal for the State of California, involved a recycling worker who was injured on the job. Claimant injured his right knee while he was moving a bin full of food waste in 2003. A treating physician determined he was temporarily disabled as a result of his knee injury. He underwent two operations on his knee in 2003 and 2004. His temporary disability rating was extended until May 2005, when his doctor cleared him to return to light duty.

His restrictions were he could not move large trash bins that weighed 750 pounds when empty and as much as 1,200 pounds when full of garbage. In 2005, the city accommodations committee convened to make reasonable accommodations for claimant, due to his light work status.
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In Massachusetts, workers’ compensation is considered the exclusive remedy against employers (and their agents) by a worker who is injured on-the-job.

There are a few rare exceptions that involve intentional injuries resulting from willful and serious misconduct. In those instances, there is a doubling of benefits. However, approval of an exception in these cases is rare. The only other option for additional compensation – and it will depend on the circumstances of the case – is third-party litigation.

Third party litigation stemming from a work-injury can be pursued if another person or entity aside from the employer and/or its agents played a significant role in causing the worker’s injuries. There are several differences between workers’ compensation benefits and third-party litigation, the most obvious being one needn’t prove negligence in workers’ compensation cases, while the burden of proof requires such a finding in third-party litigation. Another difference is that while workers’ compensation tends to be awarded faster, it’s also often markedly less than one might receive in a successful personal injury lawsuit. That’s why those severely injured may find it worthwhile to pursue such a claim, even if it takes some time to wind its way through the system.
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Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year, and it is a dangerous day for workers who are in a retail store environment. Workers are often asked to help manage crowd control, which they may not have a lot of training to do. Workers may also be under pressure from aggressive customers trying to get the products that they lined up to purchase.

A Boston workers’ compensation lawyer knows it is an employer’s job to make a workplace safe for employees. This means that retail store employers need to be aware of the risks Black Friday presents to workers. They must take action to prevent injuries from occurring.
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Employers in Boston and throughout the U.S. are legally required to make a report to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) after certain types of workplace accidents and injuries. According to OSHA’s website, the agency recently changed its reporting requirements, and the new rules will be effective January 2015. The new rules will require reporting under more circumstances so OSHA is more readily alerted when there is a problem.

Unfortunately, a Boston workers’ compensation lawyer knows not all employers follow even the current OSHA regulations. It is common for employers to fail to keep accurate records of workplace illnesses and injuries as required. This can make it harder for employers and for OSHA to know when there is a problem and to solve the workplace safety issue to protect people on-the-job.
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