Every year, North Carolina keeps track of how many workplace deaths occur. The hope is to look at what went wrong and try to prevent future deaths from occurring. Of the 48 statewide workplace deaths in 2016, two of them occurred in Forsyth County.
One was a roofer who fell from a roof. The other was an operator at a construction site whose equipment had overturned.
Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry says itâs awful to hear about falls, struck-bys and other kinds of accidents that can often be prevented with proper safety training and personal protective equipment.
Itâs important to make sure youâre always following proper safety guidelines while at work. Statistics show that construction is the most dangerous type of work; manufacturing came in second. Simple things such as wearing a hardhat and other protective gear can go a long way in ensuring your safety.
Should the worst happen and you or a loved one suffer from a fatal workplace accident, know that you or your dependents are entitled to workersâ compensation. Dependents may be entitled to 500 weeks of pay at â of the deceased employeeâs weekly pay.
Dealing with the loss of a loved one is difficult no matter the circumstances, but dealing with a workersâ compensation case on top of everything else can make an already awful situation exponentially worse. If you find yourself in this situation, be sure to contact an attorney at Oxner + Permar. We can help guide you through this process and take some of the stress out of a very difficult time.
We find that many clients assume the best way to win their case is to take it to court and make sure that it is heard by a judge and jury. The truth of the matter is that a trial isnât always the best (or fastest) way to go about it. How do you know when not to go to court?
For instance, we recently worked with a client who was injured by an uninsured driver and made a claim for underinsured motorist coverage. Our first step was to submit a demand to the insurance companies. They made an offer of $20,000. That might seem like a fair amount of money, but the reality of the situation was that it only covered the medical bills.
Rather than taking the matter to court, we demanded arbitration with the insurance carriers. They agreed to meet for voluntary mediation. During the mediation, the insurance carriers upped their offer to $30,000. However, they refused to negotiate any further.
We knew that our client deserved more than this, so we went to binding arbitration. Binding arbitration is like a very informal, mini trial in which the rules of evidence donât apply. Instead, an impartial third party is brought in to hear both sides and decide on a ruling. In this case, the arbitrators came back with an award of $50,000 â $20,000 more than the insurance companies had offered us!
It just goes to show that sometimes the best course of action is to utilize binding arbitration when it is allowed. This kind of hearing can be efficient for settling claims and can result in rewards that are substantially higher than the original offers.
When youâve been injured at work, workersâ compensation is a vital part of your recovery process. Youâre reliant on that money to pay for everything from food to bills to medical expenses. Itâs important that the amount in your check is correct. Your weekly checks should be for 66.66% of your pay the year before your injury. But what if the insurance carrier is not paying you the correct amount?
There are several reasons the amount might be incorrect. For instance, itâs possible that the insurance carrier just didnât calculate your income correctly. In some cases we have seen, the insurance carrier has not accounted for overtime pay, bonuses, or other pay that falls outside of your normal work hours.
It should be fairly easy to clear up any mistakes by reviewing your pay records. Here are some things you should make sure you include in the calculation of your income:
If the carrier still refuses to agree to raise your pay to meet your income after reviewing your records, an attorney can help you ask for a hearing or file a motion to clear up the underpayment. Every little bit counts when youâre out of work due to an injury. Make sure youâre receiving the compensation thatâs owed to you.
Dealing with a work injury and workersâ compensation can be a long, painful process. Given this, you may be asking, “is my case worth a million bucks?”. After all, it would be a lot less painful if there was $1,000,000 waiting for you at the end of it, right? In reality, a million-dollar settlement might not be as wonderful as youâre imagining. Because workers’ compensation doesnât account for pain and suffering, there are certain factors that come into play for awards to come even close to seven digits.
While it might seem like getting a $1,000,000 settlement would be great, the reality is that most of that money will be going towards medical expenses, not your pocket. However, if your case is worth $1,000,000, we absolutely want to make sure that youâre getting the money thatâs owed to you. In fact, we have a great deal of experience working these kinds of cases. No matter the extent of your injuries, you deserve fair compensation.
If you have a non-traditional workersâ compensation case, you might be concerned that we wonât represent you. The reality of the situation is that we deal with non-traditional cases all the time like a fall in the parking lot.
We’re currently helping a client who works for a staffing agency. She took a position at a large corporation. While on her way to work one morning, she tripped and fell in the parking lot. As a result, she sustained significant damage to her knee and eye.
Despite her injuries, her workersâ compensation claim has been denied. Even though she was on the property of her place of work, they turned her down because the parking lot where she fell was not owned by the staffing agency, but by the company where she had been working. Her employer was the staffing agency, not the company.
Despite this, we are working with her in order to get her fair compensation. It doesnât matter if you think your case is complicated or unusual. At Oxner + Permar, weâre passionate about defending our clients.
