In a follow-up to the recent news about a crane operator who suffered severe injuries in a Boston on-the-job accident, it has now been reported by the Boston Herald that this worker has died from his injuries.

workerexcavatorThe investigation has revealed that workers were attempting to disable the crane when the victim was still on it.  There is still an ongoing investigation into the cause of this Boston workplace accident, and there are a great number of questions about what actually happened in that Boston construction accident. Continue reading

In Brown v. Perez, a case from United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, a group of civilian federal employees filed a lawsuit based upon a claim of unfair administration of the workers’ compensation claims system.

wrist-pain-3-1411523These workers were subject to workers’ compensation system run by an agency that is part of the U.S. Department of Labor.  If a worker is injured on the job, or suffers from a work related illness, they are required to go to a to a doctor and get a letter of opinion from that doctor that they are suffering from a qualifying condition.  Continue reading

In Black v Dixie Consumer Products, an accident occurred that seriously injured a claimant.  The accident involved a large truck containing over 40,000 pounds of pulpboard.  Pulp and pulpboard are using in the making of paper and paper products.  The pulpboard was loaded onto the truck in huge rolls, and these rolls were separated by rubber mats that weigh ten pounds each.

just-a-forklift-1439915Once he parked at the factory, driver was told by the forklift operated to enter the loading area by a way of a locked cage around the loading dock.  The reason there was a cage was to keep any pedestrians off the loading dock, because it was dangerous. Continue reading

Interiano-Lopez v. Tyson Fresh Meats, a case from the Nebraska Supreme Court, involved a claimant who was living in Iowa and working at a meat packing plant in Nebraska.  He had various responsibilities as a result of his employment, but one of his jobs was cutting open the stomachs of cows.  This part of the cow is known as the paunch in the meat packing industry, and the contents of the stomach are supposed to dump out on the factory floor as part of the dump paunch line of production.

death-line-1239945In October 2013, claimant was working on the line with a trainee, and allegedly failed to properly hanging the meat on meat hooks. As a result, pieces of meat kept falling off the hooks as they passed buy the dump paunch line.  In order to cut the paunch, claimant had to lift each piece of meat back onto the hooks in a proper manner, and his arms were getting very tired. Continue reading

According to a recent news feature from the Boston Globe, a construction worker was injured when he fell approximately three stories from scaffolding at a jobsite in the Longwood Medical area in Boston.

scaffold-1-1543984One witness said she was in the area, as she also worked in the neighborhood, when she heard the worker falling more than 30 feet.  She was he was screaming the entire way down and hit other scaffolding on his way, crashing down to the ground.  Once he hit the ground, other members of he crew came running over to help him and called emergency personnel to the scene. Continue reading

In every state, there is some type of workers’ compensation statute.  In Massachusetts, there is the Workers’ Compensation Act (WCA). This law sets out the requirements for workers’ compensation in most jobs. There are other statutes that apply for certain jobs, like firefighters, and, in some cases, there are federal statutes that apply.  For example, if a railroad employee is injured on the job, this falls under the Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA).

oil-platform-1336513In Baker v. DOWCP, the question is whether the state workers’ compensation act applies or the federal Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) or the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). Continue reading

In Hillmann v. City of Chicago, a workers’ compensation case for the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, claimant had begun working for the city’s parks district in 1973.  After he worked in the department for about five years, he took a different job for the city as a truck driver in the sanitation department.  It is fairly common for state, local, and even federal government workers to move back and forth between various departments during the years in which they are employed.   The reason for this is because it is much easier to get a government job once you already have one, since many agencies will look internally to fill openings before looking at the general public.

workerexcavatorAbout 11 years after he first started working for city, he started to suffer from cervical radiculopathy, and doctors determined that his condition was work related.  This is essentially a condition of the spine that causes pain in the back and arms and legs and other parts of the body. Continue reading

In Smith v. Delaware North Cos., claimant was injured on the job when she slipped on the floor while she was working as a cook at Orioles Park at Camden Yards, which is the home of the Baltimore Orioles.  When she slipped and fell, she landed on her knee.  Her knee was hurting for a few weeks following her workplace slip-and-fall and was referred to a doctor to have an MRI performed.

baseball-serie-1-1555536When doctors took the MRI, they diagnosed her with a tear in the posterior horn of her medical meniscus.  This is one of the more common knee injuries and is often suffered by athletes in addition to tearing of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).  They also determined that she had arthritis in her knee.  Arthritis is very common following injuries to the knee, because the lack of cartilage can result in bone-to-bone contact, which causes calcification and bone spurs to form, which causes bone pain. Continue reading

In Ex Parte Lincare Inc., a supervisor and an employee were both working for the same company.  In June 2016, employee submitted a letter of resignation to her supervisor.  She said the reason she resigned from the company was because her supervisor had created a hostile work environment. She also claimed she had previously told the company about her supervisor’s actions, and the company had not taken any steps to mediate the situation.

workShe then claimed that once she gave her letter of resignation to her supervisor, the supervisor physically assaulted her by choking her, breaking two fingers on one hand and her hurting her thumb and elbow on the opposite arm.  At this point, the police were called the job site. Continue reading

In Cornelison v. TIG Insurance, claimant injured his back in 1996, while he was shoveling dirt at work.  He underwent back surgery after his accident, but it did not help resolve his pain and medical conditions. He filed for workers’ compensation benefits, and the board determined he was permanently and totally disabled under a state law doctrine known as the odd-lot doctrine. His date of disability was 2001.

wrist-pain-3-1411523Claimant did not contest this PTD rating, and he also began to receive to Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits.  While it is okay for an injured worker to receive SSDI benefits in addition to his workers’ compensation benefits, he will be required to offset the payments by reimbursing the workers’ compensation insurance company, so as to avoid what is known as a double recovery. Continue reading

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