Maison Law stands with Merced workers who may be at home, unable to work, and dealing with pain from a workplace injury. Victims will understandably worry about how they’ll be able to pay medical bills and support their families while no paychecks are coming in.
When a safety issue, like a malfunctioning piece of equipment, causes a serious injury, workers should expect to get help from California’s Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC).
Unfortunately, not every victim gets the same amount of support, and having a skilled attorney gather evidence and present your case effectively can often earn you more compensation for longer. A lawyer may also be able to help you identify other parties that should bear accountability for what happened.
You can schedule a free legal consultation with a real lawyer. There’s no obligation. It’s a no-risk way to determine what your injury is worth and how to earn the most in benefits from
Should I Call a Lawyer After Suffering an Injury On The Job in Merced?
If you receive a serious injury at work and miss more than a few days on the job, you may require the help of a lawyer to earn adequate support for recovery through workers’ compensation.
A workplace injury due to a dangerous piece of equipment, like a broken bone, a back injury, or brain trauma, will result in more lost time at work and higher medical bills. The escalating costs might cause employers to look for ways to avoid taking responsibility. They may even try to blame you for what happened.
A skilled Merced Workers’ Compensation Lawyer secures the evidence needed to hold employers accountable and to ensure you receive the maximum support available. Talk to a lawyer if you feel you aren’t being treated fairly by your employer after an injury.
Go over your options if you believe Workers’ Compensation won’t provide enough in compensation to pay all of your hospital expenses and your living expenses while you can’t work. You can also contact a lawyer if you’ve been unfairly denied benefits.
The guidebook provided by the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) explains a few other reasons you may want to trust your case to a lawyer.
Who Is Responsible for Equipment Malfunction Dangers in Merced County?
The State of California, Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) explains the rights workers have to a safe workplace. Employers are held responsible for dangerous work sites and weak safety measures that leave workers injured.
That liability also extends to the equipment workers are asked to operate to finish their jobs. Companies must make sure employees have safe, well-maintained equipment and tools to depend on. They must also receive the training to use equipment properly.
When accidents happen involving a piece of equipment malfunctioning, the workers nearby can suffer serious injuries. This might happen with farming machinery used on local Merced farms. Equipment used on the floor of packing plants could break down, causing a major hazard to the operator. A useful tool in a warehouse, like an order picker, could have a part failure and harm the driver or someone nearby.
Workers’ Comp can be called upon to help victims hurt in accidents. However, when a piece of equipment’s failure is discovered to be the cause, other parties can sometimes be held financially responsible. This includes the employer. Victims may end up receiving support for their recoveries and support for their families from several sources. A skilled Merced Defective Equipment Workers’ Comp Lawyer can help victims identify every party that may be responsible.
Defective Equipment Hazards at Work
Merced has plenty of agricultural companies, like farms and poultry plants, nearby. Plenty of workers go off to packing plants and canneries each morning and night. Others work in manufacturing plants. The job duties can involve using massive machines or transportation devices that help get the work done. Workers in offices might also use tools during parts of their days.
The tools and machines we use each day can cause us harm, especially if they malfunction or utilize an unsafe design. A breakdown can cause these risks and more:
- Crush injuries and injuries in confined spaces
- Electrical Shock
- Structural breakdown
- Lacerations from sharp, fast-moving parts
- Burns
- Exposure to hazardous substances
- Transport and farm equipment breakdowns
- Flying metal parts and falling objects
Victims can suffer bone fractures, amputations, internal organ damage, and brain injuries. They may need a lot of help to pay their medical bills and find duties they can handle until they can heal. When employers try to avoid this duty to their hardworking employees, Maison Law steps in and makes sure the worker is taken care of until recovery is reached and the victim is ready to return to work.
Filing a Workers’ Comp Claim After an Equipment Accident
Your lawyer submits a Workers’ Comp claim and ensures that it contains every medical bill you have now and those anticipated for the care expected to be needed in the future.
Your attorney would be negotiating for the maximum in support so that you could pay all of the medical bills that had piled up since the accident. The money needed to cover any care in the future with a long-term or permanent injury would also have to be included.
The DIR Injured Worker’s Handbook goes over all the different types of support available through a claim. This is a look at some of the support victims could receive:
- Medical Care. Paid for by your employer, to help you recover from an injury or illness caused by work. This includes doctor visits and other treatment services, tests, medicines, equipment, and travel costs reasonably necessary to treat your injury.
- Temporary Disability Benefits. Payments if you lose wages because your injury prevents you from doing your usual job while recovering.
- Permanent Disability Benefits. Payments if you don’t recover completely and your injury causes a permanent loss of physical or mental function that a doctor can measure.
- Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit. A voucher to help pay for retraining or skill enhancement, including the cost of vocational therapy for you. These benefits are available to those who are eligible to receive permanent disability benefits, your employer doesn’t offer you work, and you don’t return to work for your employer. This benefit is available for workers injured in 2004 or later. If your injury also occurred in 2013 or later and you received a Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit, you may also be eligible for an additional, one-time payment under the Return-to-Work Supplement Program.
- Support for Families If a Worker Is Killed on the Job. Workers’ compensation provides death benefits to families left behind, but an employer could also be sued for contributing to a fatal accident in some cases. A Merced Wrongful Death Attorney would explore the family’s options to hold an employer financially responsible for the tragic loss of life.
Who Else Can Be Held Responsible If I’m Hurt by Malfunctioning Equipment on the Job?
Most victims receive their support through Workers’ Comp. However, if an employer or another company puts workers in harm’s way and demonstrates “gross negligence,” then victims may be able to file additional lawsuits. Gross negligence means that someone’s actions are so reckless that they border on being intentional actions that put others in harm’s way.
These are just a few of the other parties that may be liable if you are hurt at work:
- Employer – A business owner may have failed to properly maintain a piece of equipment or remove equipment that was known (or a boss should have known) to be under a recall.
- Equipment manufacturer – The maker of the equipment or tool could be found liable for defects in the design or production.
- A retailer or rental company – A store that sold or rented out faulty equipment could be liable for the harm done to vulnerable workers.
Your lawyer helps you decide if a lawsuit should be filed against an employer or other companies (including a state agency) to seek additional compensation. You and your lawyer may have to go beyond workers’ compensation to seek additional support from any company that contributed to a workplace accident.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a deadline for reporting my injury to my company?
Yes. You must inform your manager or the company owner within a month of your injury. Alert them as soon as you can. If you wait, your case may be rejected, and you won’t receive help with your medical costs.
How long can I wait to inform California Workers’ Compensation of my injury?
Victims can file a Workers’ Comp claim up to a year from the date of the accident. If a victim doesn’t know about the injury until later, the one-year countdown would begin on the date the injury was discovered.
Can undocumented workers receive Workers’ Compensation benefits in California?
Yes, their citizenship status doesn’t matter. California also prohibits employers from threatening or intimidating undocumented workers because they have reported an injury.
What if my employer threatens my job or threatens to retaliate after I report an accident?
California law forbids employers from going after workers who report unsafe conditions, injuries, or who ask for Workers’ Compensation support. Our lawyers will take quick legal action if employers try to intimidate or threaten a worker for reporting an injury. We file lawsuits if an employer fires an injured employee simply because they got hurt. This behavior is illegal.
Contact a Merced County Workers’ Compensation Attorney
The most important outcome is that you can count on the most support possible through Workers’ Compensation as you recover. A Merced Workers’ Compensation Lawyer provides the best chance to do that and hold other potential parties financially liable.
There’s an easy way to find out which path offers you the fastest route to the support you and your family desperately need. Speak to Maison Law in a free, no-obligation consultation. We want to hear about what happened to you and then help you determine the best course of action for your family.
