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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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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.

We are skeptical of "light duty work" for a whole lot of reasons and this case illustrates several of them.  Our client in Lexington had an assembly job with Diebold. She injured her shoulder and the employer began directing her medical care. Notably, however, they refused to file a Form 60 or a Form 63 formally accepting the claim. They sent her to the company doctor who, pretty reliably, returned her to light duty work instead of taking her out of work.

Nearly immediately upon return to work with a 5 pound lifting restriction Diebold moved her to a different job which required her to lift over 40 pounds regularly. Without any other way to pay her bills our client had to try to stick it out. Like many employers and insurance companies, Diebold and Broadspire responded by writing her up for allegedly being less than five minutes late to work. They followed this up with another write-up for a highly disputed instance of tardiness and fired her.

Not surprisingly Broadspire declined to start her on weekly checks.

Like many injured workers this hard-working woman hadn't wanted to hire an attorney. Yet at this point she had no other options. She hired us and we sent her back to an authorized orthopedic surgeon who wrote her out of work. We immediately filed a Motion to Reinstate Benefits, however the Industrial Commission denied this due to Broadspire's failure to formally accept the claim. (Rather than punishing Broadspire for this violation of the law, the Industrial Commission effectively punished our client by requiring her to go to a full hearing without any weekly income at all.)

After the hearing and doctor's depositions the Industrial Commission correctly ruled that Broadspire had illegally failed to accept or deny the claim. The NCIC also held that Diebold had violated the light duty restrictions and therefore plaintiff should not have been at work -- and thus shouldn't have been exposed to the risks of termination. The NCIC proceeded to order weekly benefits paid from the date of termination ongoing as well as all medical treatment necessary to get plaintiff better.

Click to read the Industrial Commission decision. User name is "public" and there is no password.

Read More About 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....

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