Massachusetts Workers' Compensation Lawyer Blog

March 27, 2015

Deadly Construction Accident Involving Scaffolding that Killed Three, Injured One Under Investigation

It may be months before investigators conclude their probe into the construction accident that killed three workers on Monday. The deadly incident happened when a piece of scaffolding—known as the mast climber scaffold—fell to the ground, causing construction workers who were on it to fall 200 feet. A fourth worker was taken to the hospital with injuries. The incident occurred in North Carolina.

The scaffolding had been attached to a new building. One of its tracks snapped off, causing the equipment to fall onto the ground.

March 19, 2015

OSHA Confirms that Workers Have Not Been Helped by Workers Comp. Reforms

by Altman & Altman

In a recent Massachusetts Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Blog post, we wrote about an NPR and ProPublica probe that found that recent workers’ compensation reforms are hurting more than helping injured workers. Now, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued its report that reflects similar findings.

According to OSHA’s report, statistics show that over three million workers are hurt every year, with thousands killed while doing their job. These figures do not include incidents that go unreported and chronic illnesses that continue even after exposure on the job to hazardous substances has stopped.

Many workers who were seriously hurt find it hard to keep working—especially as modifications to workers comp. insurance programs have made it harder for someone who was hurt on the job to get full benefits. Employers are now taking care of just a small portion of overall workplace injury and illness costs through their work injury compensation programs.

March 10, 2015

State Appeals Court Reverses Ruling Allowing General Motors to Reduce Retiree’s Workers’ Compensation

by Altman & Altman

An appeals court has reversed an earlier ruling allowing General Motors to decrease the work injury benefits it was giving to a retiree who was hurt while on the job. The Michigan Court of Appeals said that UAW, the union for America’s autoworkers, lacked the authority to vote to modify collective bargaining for workers who had already retired. The court noted that there was no evidence showing that the plaintiff gave the union the authority to represent him to change the agreement that he retired under.

Some 1800 GM retirees saw a reduction in their benefits in 2010 because of a law, passed in the 90’s, which let companies reduce workers’ compensation checks by how much they were getting in their disability pension. For a long time GM and UAW agreed they would not reduce the checks until workers had turned at least 65. However, in the wake of GM’s financial problems, a deal was struck in 2009 between the union and the automaker to make cuts to workers’ compensation benefits.

March 7, 2015

Workers’ Compensation “Reforms” Are Hurting Injured Workers

by Altman & Altman

According to a National Public Radio and ProPublica investigation, in recent years states across the country have been taking apart the workers’ compensation system. This has proven financially disastrous for the many workers who are seriously hurt on the job.

The reforms have reportedly been so drastic that they practically guaranteed that a seriously injured worker would have to struggle financially. Also, many injured workers and their families are now spending years fighting with insurers for the prescriptions, surgeries, and medical help that they need.

That’s why it is so important that now, more than ever, a worker who is injured on the job speak to a Boston workers’ compensation lawyer right away. You have benefits and rights to which you are entitled and they should be protected.

February 27, 2015

Snow, Ice on Roofs Lead to Massachusetts Worker Injuries, Deaths

by Altman & Altman

In the last few weeks, over 100 inches of snow have fallen on parts of Massachusetts. This has led to massive efforts to clear snow and ice off roofs and roads. The snow clearings have placed numerous workers and homeowners in high-risk situations.

There have been at least two workers that were involved in Canton, MA work accidents. One man fell some 40 feet through a skylight while evaluating snow removal operations. The skylight had been covered in snow when he stepped on it. The worker was later pronounced dead at a Brockton hospital.

Also injured in a Canton, MA roof fall was another worker, who was also clearing snow. In an Avon, MA roof collapse, another worker was hurt in roof fall from a skylight.

February 25, 2015

Teen Worker Falls 25 Feet While Shoveling Roof in Westwood, MA

by Altman & Altman

A 17-year-old student, part of a work crew shoveling snow off of a department store roof, was injured after falling through a skylight.

Officials say the teen was helping to remove snow at Frugal Fannie’s clothing store in Westwood yesterday morning when he fell. Witnesses say he fell nearly 25 feet; his fall was broken by one of the store’s clothing racks. However the extent of the young man’s injuries remains unclear. The teen was flown to an area hospital by helicopter.

This unfortunate story is one of many that we’ve heard in Massachusetts and throughout the Northeast as our region continues to be blasted with heavy snowfall. Last week, two people in Canton were fatally injured due to roof falls and two horses died when the barn they were kept in collapsed.

According to The Patch, MEMA (Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency), there have been more than 130 reports of roof collapses in just two weeks in the state. Many of the injuries sustained were directly from roofs collapsing under weight of snow, or people falling while attempting to remove snow from their roofs.
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February 20, 2015

Undocumented Worker Entitled to Workers’ Compensation

by Altman & Altman

According to a court ruling, an undocumented Mexican worker who gave his employer false identification is entitled to workers’ compensation benefits for injuries he sustained on the job. Mario Arellano, who gave a fake Social Security card, along with a driver’s license, to L & L Enterprises, hurt his back while riding in the back of a work truck.

Arellano’s injuries included a lumbar sprain and acute back pain. Arellano filed a workers’ compensation claim but the state of Wyoming denied it, contending that he did not give medical documentation to back his claim and failed to prove he was allowed to work in the United States.

An examiner from the state’s administrative hearing office said that although Arellano proved his back injury was because of his job, he did not succeed in demonstrating that he was covered under workers’ compensation law. The examiner denied Arellano the benefits and he appealed. A district court reversed the examiner’s ruling.

February 12, 2015

Massachusetts Nursing Assistants Sustain Back Injuries, Repetitive Trauma, Other Work Injuries

by Altman & Altman

NPR reports that according to statistics from the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor, nursing employees sustain over 35,000 back and other injuries each year. These injuries are serious enough that they warrant taking time off from work.

Nursing employees are also three times more likely than construction laborers to suffer musculoskeletal injuries. Registered nurses aren’t far behind after warehouse workers, truck drivers, and store clerks.

The main causes of these injuries are the duties of lifting and moving patients, which nursing employees do every day. During a typical day, a worker might lift a patient weighing much more than the employee at least a dozen times a day. This may lead to back pain, sprains, strains, and shoulder injuries.

February 7, 2015

OSHA Orders Ashley Furniture to Pay $1.7M After More Than 1,000 Workers Injured

by Altman & Altman

Ashley Furniture Industry Inc. has been fined $1.76M because its workers have gotten hurt in over 1,000 work-related injuries in the last three-and-a-half years. Following an incident last summer when one worker lost three fingers while operating a woodworking machine, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration conducted a probe of the facility and found numerous willful, repeated, and serious safety violations.

The furniture company has also been put on the Severe Violator Enforcement Program for not addressing certain safety hazards. OSHA contends that Ashley Furniture purposely ignored the agency’s standards, as well as the company’s own safety manuals, to increase worker productivity levels. The company is accused of blaming workers for their injuries, which were actually caused by the unsafe working conditions created at Ashley Furniture.

OSHA said that the furniture maker did not act to protect workers from getting hurt by moving machine parts or prevent machines from unintentionally activating when machineries were being serviced. These kinds of violations can lead to permanent disability and death.

January 31, 2015

NYC’s DEP Liable for $3 Million in Damages After Worker Injured

by Altman & Altman

A $3 million pain and suffering award has been reinstated against the New York City Department of Environmental Protection after it was found to be in violation of state labor laws.

Rafael Lopez filed suit against the city and the department collectively due to injuries he sustained while working on the construction site at Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. The plant is currently owned by the City of New York and managed by the New York Department of Environmental Protection.

According to reports, Lopez fell backward and was impaled by an uncapped piece of vertical rebar (steel reinforcement), which ultimately caused him to sustain serious life-long injuries. He required multiple hospitalizations, spinal fusion surgery and physical therapy. Considering the nature and extent of Lopez’s injuries, the jury awarded him compensation for past and future pain and suffering totaling $5 million. City officials denied any liability o accident and raised issues of comparative negligence, a common defense to a labor lawsuit.

Unfortunately for Mr. Lopez, he was unsuccessful after the Kings County Supreme court granted the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability.
On appeal, the city moved for a new trial on the future pain and suffering damages. “The court agreed with the original jury award stating the $2 million past pain and suffering did not materially deviate from reasonable compensation and for the same reason the award for $3 million future pain and suffering would be reinstated. ”
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