Practice Areas

• Workers' Compensation
• Personal Injury
• Social Security Disability

Firm News

• When the injured worker returned to work he was immediately fired...
  
• Workers' Compensation: The IC ruled that the employer, who willingly paid the medical claim and workers comp for the employee's foot injury, must also pay for pain management because this injury aggravated the employee's pre-existing fibromyalgia and hypertension and was now considered a chronic condition. Although it is tough to win these claims we can usually do it if we the treating physician will agree that the pre-existing condition is worse now than it was and that this change is due to the worker's comp accident....
  
• Workers' Compensation: The Industrial Commission denied the employee's claim for temporary partial disability compensation. The Commission ruled that the reduction in wages that our client received was because of problems with the company's workload due to the economy. It was determined that he didn't receive less pay because of his injury or from the less-paying job within the company that he had to take because of the injury....
  
• Workers' Compensation: The NC Industrial Commission determined that the employer was required to pay our client's medical bills and also continue workers' compensation payments until our client could find a job with his limited physical capabilities. The employer was unable to find work for him at the company and he was fired, which was unacceptable, although it was explained by the employer as happening because of excessive absences....
  
• Workers' Compensation: The North Carolina Industrial Commission threatened to hold CNA in contempt of court because they refused to authorize the medical tests which would prove that the plaintiff was unable to do his job. This was a classic example of an adjuster getting an opinion from a reliable doctor and then refusing any other evaluation which could help the injured worker....
  
• Workers Compensation: The North Carolina Industrial Commission held that National Benefits Association had wrongfully denied this claim for more than a year...but only when the Industrial Commission finally heard all the evidence -- that the employer admitted that they knew the plaintiff was hurt, that they had sent him to a doctor but didn't follow his direction, and that there was no way our client could do his job with his severely-injured back....
  
• Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission says Liberty Mutual must provide yardcare and housecleaning to an injured brickmason....
  
• Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission rules that a restaurant dishwasher who slipped and fell, and was taken straight to an emergency room has proven that he was injured on the job....
  
• Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission finds that Diebold and Broadspire MUST pay weekly benefits even after they fired the injured worker from her "light duty" job....
  
• Workers' Compensation: North Carolina Industrial Commission rules against The Hartford Insurance Company and holds that a nurse who was still on her employer's property when she was hit by a car is within the course and scope of her employment and entitled to workers' compensation benefits....
  

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Library

Workers' Compensation

• Psssst! Who's that following you?
• NCIC Form 25T: Mileage Reimbursement form
• Form 28T: Notice of Termination of Compensation by Reason of Trial Return to Work
• Form 33R: Response to Request that Claim Be Assigned for Hearing
• 10 Things Your Insurance Adjuster Won't Tell You (download)

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DISCLAIMER: Please note that every case is different and these verdicts and settlements, while accurate, do not represent what we may obtain for you in your case.

What Can Go Wrong with a Return to Light Duty Work.

The Case: "George" worked for a heating and air conditioning company for over 20 years. In his younger years, he worked as a technician installing heating and cooling systems. This was a very physical job. As he grew older, he was no longer physically able to work as a technician. Consequently, he took a less physical job with the employer in the shop making duct work. He did this for a number of years until he had an accident at work injuring his knee. The injury was so bad that his doctors recommended a total knee replacement. He was written out of work several weeks.

Nevertheless, within days after the total knee replacement, the employer drove to George's house and urged him to come back to work. He promised George that he would give him a "special" light duty job in the warehouse. Against his better judgment, George decided to take the employer up on his offer and violate his doctor's restrictions. George did not last a day before his knee began to swell so bad that he could hardly stand it. By going back to work prematurely against doctor's orders, he caused additional damage to his knee and delayed his recovery.

Eventually, his doctor released him with very limited work restrictions. His restrictions precluded him performing his old job making duct work. Again, the employer insisted that he take the "special" warehouse job, and George consented. The normal jobs in the warehouse required heavy lifting which George couldn't do. The employer assured George that he would only have to operate a computer. The problem was that George had no previous computer experience. He assumed that he would be trained to operate the system. He assumed wrong. He never received any training or instruction. After spending several weeks sitting in front of the computer doing nothing, the employer terminated George because he did not know how to operate the computer.

With little hesitation, the employer terminated a 20-year employee because of a pretense. The employer argued that the termination had nothing to do with his workers' compensation injury so he was not entitled to ongoing benefits. Had George initially refused the "make-work" job and he was still out of work because of his compensable injury, the insurance company would have had to pay weekly benefits. To add insult to injury, the employer even contested his claim for unemployment benefits after he was terminated.

Here's what we did: We filed for a hearing and served the employer with a set of questions known as interrogatories. During legal claims, the parties have a legal right to ask the opposing party detailed questions that pertain to the claim. In this case, we asked questions specifically about the "special" warehouse job and how the termination came about. During this process, the employer revealed details which allowed us to convincingly argue that (1) the warehouse job was "make-work" and (2) the George was terminated for reasons related to his workers' compensation claim.

This claim ultimately settled soon after mediation in George's favor, and he was well pleased.