A serious accident in an unsafe workplace can leave you with devastating injuries and with no chance to return to work anytime soon. With days and weeks of lost hours at work growing, forklift accident victims will worry about how they’ll be able to pay medical bills and support their families.
Maison Law of Merced stands with workers after they’ve suffered an injury on the job. We make sure victims earn what they need to recover physically and financially.
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 California’s Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC).
Why Would I Need a Lawyer After a Forklift Injury at Work?
The bottom line is that a skilled attorney can often win victims much more in support than they could win by filing a Workers’ Comp Claim themselves. A lawyer can significantly impact the outcome of a Workers’ Comp hearing for the better, especially when an injury is serious and a substantial amount of time will be missed from work.
A lawyer is also a protection for workers when employers try to deny blame for an injury or attempt to question how serious an injury is.
These are some other benefits you may see when trusting your case to a Merced Workers’ Compensation Lawyer:
- Investigates your forklift accident, your workplace, and your employer’s actions
- Compiles and files your Workers’ Compensation Claim for you
- Defends you against false accusations
- Negotiates for a higher settlement on your behalf
- Appears before Workers’ Compensation administrators and judges on your behalf to make sure your side of the story is heard
- Can help you file an appeal if your claim has already been denied
- Handles the entire frustrating process while giving you time to focus on getting better
- Files lawsuits if an employer makes threats toward you or fires you for reporting an accident
Important Resource for Forklift Injury Victims: 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.
Forklift Accident Dangers in Merced
The National Safety Council (NSC) reports that there were 67 work-related deaths involving forklifts in 2023. 15,480 forklift accident cases led to days away from work for victims between 2021 and 2022.
Merced County serves as a major hub for many agricultural and manufacturing companies. Businesses must depend on forklifts and order pickers to move their crops and products in warehouses and packing houses. Pallets of produce boxes and goods are moved quickly across work floorspaces and into large trucks.
Drivers move quickly with heavy loads. They also work around powerful metal components and must operate under heavy items stored overhead. Unsafe conditions in a warehouse or plant can lead to an accident for a driver or someone who works near forklifts. A difficult and painful injury rehabilitation may be necessary, leading to weeks of job time missed.
These are some of the factors that can lead to scary forklift accidents in Merced workspaces:
- Forklift drivers traveling at unsafe speeds
- Unsafe turn and tip-over risks
- Unbalanced loads
- Overloaded forklift
- Collapsing stack of goods
- Broken pallet
- Distracted driver hitting an object or pedestrian
- Stressed or exhausted driver making a careless mistake
- Improperly trained driver
- Improper maintenance of forklift
- A forklift manufacturing flaw
Forklift operators work with dangerous loads and put in long hours, and their employers benefit. Unfortunately, when accidents occur, owners and corporations can forget all that hard work and abandon injured workers. They may even look for ways to blame forklift drivers and fire them.
A Workers’ Compensation lawyer can shield victims from this type of treatment and hold companies fully accountable for the entire recovery period. Maison Law makes sure victims have the support needed to rebuild their lives, support their families, and return to work.
What Kind of Support Can I Ask For From California Workers’ Compensation?
Your attorney takes action against employers and the state when they don’t want to provide the compensation you’ll need to fully restore your health and career.
Your lawyer submits a Workers’ Comp claim. It must include every medical bill you have now and those anticipated for the care expected to be needed in the future.
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 and help them seek justice and support. A Maison Law representative would work to hold an employer financially responsible for the tragic loss of life.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should I tell my supervisor about my injury?
Let your employer or a manager know immediately about any injury. If you wait longer than a month to alert your manager, it may allow your employer to refuse Workers’ Compensation assistance.
How long can I wait to file a California Workers’ Compensation injury claim?
As seen above, injured workers should report their injuries to their employers as soon as possible. Then they usually have up to one year from the date of the accident to file a claim with California’s Division of Workers’ Compensation. In some cases, the one-year deadline counts down from the day the worker learns of an injury or illness. The deadline could be extended if the victim is under the age of 18.
What if I can’t afford to pay a Merced workers’ compensation lawyer?
You can always afford the help of a skilled Maison Law attorney. We work on a contingency fee basis. It means we cover all upfront costs, and you owe us nothing unless we win your case for you. If your case is successful, our fee comes out of the workers’ compensation check you receive.
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 Forklift Accident Workers’ Compensation Lawyer usually provides the best chance to do that.
There’s an easy way to find out how to hold Workers’ Comp responsible and how to secure the most possible in support as you recover. 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.
