GREENSBORO, N.C. — Seven seconds. You hardly even know it goes by, it’s so fast. According to the National Safety Council, a worker is injured on the job every seven seconds.
That's about 540 work injuries an hour in the nation, 12,900 work injuries per day.
What if YOU become one of the numbers? Attorney Gabriel Snyder from Ward Black Law is here to talk about what your options are.
“A lot of people are afraid to go to their employer about an injury, but employers are required to have insurance. This is part of the benefits you have an option of using.”
When should you talk to a lawyer? Well, a consultation is free. So, the answer is, you should at least talk to one to make sure you are being taken care of.
In fact, Friday, March 6th you can talk to a lawyer one on one over the phone. 4 ALL SERVICE DAY is designed to get you the legal information you need.
- Permanent Partial Disability
- As medieval as it sounds, North Carolina has codified what injured body parts are worth. An arm is worth one thing, a leg is worth something else.
- If body part permanently but only partially disabled, doctor will assign a rating percentage to the body part. The compensation turns into a math equation using the rating, the amount the worker earned in wages, and the statute.
- Permanent Disability
- If a worker becomes disabled as a result of a work accident the worker is entitled compensation for the time missed from work.
- So long as the worker is disabled from the accident and can no longer do the job that the worker did before the worker is entitled to be paid wages.
- Permanently disabled workers are entitled to 500 weeks compensation but can reapply after 425 weeks if necessary.
Who pays the medical expenses?
- Medical Compensation
- The employer is on the hook for all medical expenses that relate to the work injury for the rest of the workers life. In the unfortunate situation where a worker has back injury that later necessitates surgery, even if the workplace accident occurred many years before, so long as the surgery can be shown to be related to the accident, workers compensation covers it. But there are many things that an attorney can help you with to not lose your right to have workers compensation pay for the surgery.