Tennessee Workers Comp Claims Require Notice of Injury

Tennessee workers compensation claimants must give notice of their injury to their employer.

Tennessee Workers Comp Attorney Comments on Fork Lift Operator Back Injuries

Tennessee fork lift operators can experience back injuries and Tennessee workers' compensation claims due to the whole body vibration that occurs during fork lift operation.

Tennessee Workers Comp Knee Injury and Knee Replacement

Knee injuries that occur on the job may require surgery and rehab, but ultimately allow a worker to return to his/her former job. Not always, though. Restrictions on activity after a knee injury are common, and when a knee replacement is required, a change of employment may be the only option.

Injured while Driving for Your Employer?

   Do you drive for a living as an OTR trucker or a traveling sales person.  What if you're using the company car to run an errand for your employer and someone else causes a wreck?  Do you have a workers' compensation claim or a personal injury claim against the other driver?  In Tennessee, you have both.  If you were working in the course and scope of your employment at the time of the collision, you are entitled to claim workers' compensation benefits.  However, you also entitled to pursue a claim against the person that was responsible for the wreck.  
This can be a complicated process that involves different procedural rules and time restrictions.  For instance, if you pursue work comp benefits and a recovery from the person responsible for the wreck, you may have to reimburse the work comp company. There are also filing restrictions for a Tennessee Workers' Compensation Claim and a 1 year statute of limitations on a personal injury claim.  Don't miss out on all that you're entitled to receive because you weren't aware of your rights.
If you have been hurt while driving for your employer, contact us now.  We will advise you about the correct course of action to take and to what benefits you are entitled.

Tennessee Workers Compensation Covers Rotator Cuff Tears

Rotator cuff tears are a common workers compensation injury, and one that often requires surgery and rehabilitation.

Lost your job in Tennessee after having a workers' comp case?

Tennessee workers' compensation entitles you to a reconsideration of your settlement if you lose your job.

Injured During Lunch Hour or on Break?

There are a lot of strong opinions about whether someone should be entitled to receive benefits if they are injured while on their lunch break.  A Maryland Court will be deciding that very issue.  In a recent case, a woman was injured while trying to retrieve a shampoo bottle from her car during her lunch break.   The Maryland Workers' Compensation Commission found that her injuries arose "out of and in the course of employment" and awarded workers' compensation benefits. The County wants the money returned.  

How would that case be decided in Tennessee?  In Tennessee, a worker on the employer's premises coming to/going from the work place is acting in the course of employment.  If the employer provides a parking area for its employees, that area is part of the employer's premises.  However, as a general rule, an injury that occurs while an employee is en route to/from work is not compensable.  

If an employee is injured on the employer's premises during a break provided by the employer, the injury is generally compensable. Moreover, even if the employee was injured at a place away from the employer's premises, if the location was selected for the convenience of the employer and if the activities were furthering/facilitating his employer's business, the employee should be entitled to workers' compensation benefits.  

During this time of year, when company parties and luncheons to celebrate the holiday season are the norm, have fun yet be careful as you celebrate with your co-workers!     

Prior Work Comp Settlement...Do you have a right to reconsideration?

GM employees who lose their jobs (and others) have the right to have a prior workers' compensation settlement re-opened.

16 Worker Deaths Each Day

16 workers die every day due to employer negilgence, but employers rarely receive any significant punishment for safety violations.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

  
Carpal tunnel syndrome occurs when the median nerve, which runs from the forearm into the hand, becomes pressed or squeezed at the wrist. The median nerve controls sensations to the palm side of the thumb and fingers (although not the little finger), as well as impulses to some small muscles in the hand that allow the fingers and thumb to move.

Symptoms of Carpal Tunnel usually start gradually, with frequent burning, tingling, or itching numbness in the palm of the hand and the fingers, especially the thumb and the index and middle fingers. Some carpal tunnel sufferers say their fingers feel useless and swollen, even though little or no swelling is apparent. The symptoms often first appear in one or both hands during the night, since many people sleep with flexed wrists. A person with carpal tunnel syndrome may wake up feeling the need to "shake out" the hand or wrist. As symptoms worsen, people might feel tingling during the day. Decreased grip strength may make it difficult to form a fist, grasp small objects, or perform other manual tasks. In chronic and/or untreated cases, the muscles at the base of the thumb may waste away. 

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can be caused by repetitive flexing and extending of the tendons in the hands and wrists.  This is more likely to occur if the repetitive motion is done forcefully and/or for long periods without rest.    

If the repetitive nature of your job has caused you to experience these types of symptoms, you may have a work-related injury and are entitled to workers' compensation benefits. Contact us, we can help.

Insurors Deny Worker Benefits for Work Related Injury

A nursing assistant in Pasadena California was on the job when she was twice violently attacked by a patient, being bitten as well as struck in the head and neck. She developed fatigue and a headache that persisted and after 4 days went to the hosptial's workers' comp clinic. She was turned away. That evening she suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke and now is in a permanent vegetative state. Now the two insurance companies involved are pointing fingers at each oher and neither will do anything to help. Blue Cross says the injury is work related so they are not responsible, and the worker's compensation insurance company says it was not a work related injury. This is why people who are injured on the job need attorneys. Dealing with insurance companies can be maddening, and as this case shows - outrageously unfair. Details about this story are available by clicking here. For more information about Tennessee Worker's Compensation, go here.

Construction Site Accidents

  An important change will effect Tennessee Workers' Compensation law on December 31, 2009.  Under the new law, Public Chapter 1041 (2008), everyone in the construction industry must carry workers’ compensation coverage.  This means that construction company owners (both large companies and small businesses) will be required to carry workers compensation on all subcontractors, workers, and employees who work for them.  In addition, thy will be required to carry this insurance on themselves.  The only exception to this rule will be for sole proprietors or partners (with no subcontractors, workers, or employees) who are being paid directly by a residential property owner (i.e individual, custom build job).  This is a change from the old law that required contractors to carry work comp insurance only if they had one (1) or more employees.  Gone are the days when contractors could allow subcontractors to waive their right to work comp benefits by filling out a form.

If you have been injured while working a construction job, contact us.  We will help you to determine what benefits that you are entitled to.

Back Surgery

We have had hundreds of clients who have had back surgery, some as the result of work injuries, some from collision cases. The Most of them experienced pain and thought that surgery would take away their pain and allow them to return to normal. The words used to describe the conditions and procedures involved - laminectomy, fusion, stabilization, spondylosis, stenosis, are not "user friendly" but ultimately back surgery is about protecting the spinal cord and nerves. Pain relief is not the most important goal for a back surgeon and the amount of pain after surgery can be disappointing. The best advice - lose weight, stretch, and exercise. This sounds good but for so many people it is impossible. Don't we all need to follow this advice whether we have back problems or not? Many times, our clients fail at these reasonable but impossible to achieve goals. The result? Back pain that limits their activities and lives in ways that are hard to appreciate unless you have heard their stories. Surgery is not always the answer for back pain, and the Mayo Clinic has some good information for anyone who is thinking about this surgery (click here). For other information about back surgery and specific procedures, click here.

Montana Supreme Court Ruling Affects Work Comp Benefits-What About Tennessee?

Yesterday, the Montana Supreme Court upheld the a state law that allows insurance companies to cut off workers' compensation payments for those suffering permanent total disability when the disabled party is eligible for Social Security retirement benefits.  In Court's ruling, the Justices reasoned that workers' compensation benefits for permanently and totally disabled workers are meant to assist them for their "work life," and not into retirement.  

Tennessee is similar.  If you are injured on the job in Tennessee and have a permanent, total disability, you are entitled to receive benefits until your sixty-fifth (65) birthday. However, If you first become totally and permanently disabled after age 60, benefits are payable for a period of 260 weeks, regardless of age.

It is important to note that, with certain exceptions, workers' compensation benefits are reduced by the amount of Social Security (old age benefits) attributable to your employer.   

Your future social security benefits can be affected by your workers' compensation benefits.  This can mean a complex settlement that, if structured poorly, can affect whether (and how much) you receive from Social Security.  

If you have been injured on the job and have questions about whether you workers' compensation benefits will affect your social security, call us.   

OSHA Violations

The head of OSHA's enforcement division has reported that among its top 10 most frequent violations are

1. Scaffolding - with over 9,000 violations per year
2. Fall Protection - with over 6700 violations per year
3. Hazard Communication - with over 6300 violations\
4. Electrical - with over 5500 violations
5. Machine guarding - with over 2300 violations. 

These numbers vastly understate the problem. They mostly reflect when someone was needlessly injured on the job due to OSHA violations - and there was an investigation due to the severity of the injury. For most of these kinds of violations of safety rules, any work injury that results can be potentially disabling. In Tennessee, OSHA violations are investigated and enforced by the State, but there are far too few inspectors to eliminate the unnecessary risks associated with scaffolding, falls, electrical wiring, and machine guarding.

Safety Violation Fines Ineffective

Seattle - 10/22/09 - A King County Jury returned a verdict of over $12 million to cover the long term care costs of deputy sheriff who was injured while on duty at a fire station.  The deputy stepped through an unmarked doorway for the station's firepole, falling 18 feet and breaking his pelvis, hips, legs, and ribs. As a deputy sheriff, the injured worker was not covered by workers compensation. The State Department of Labor's investigation of the event found a "serious safety violation" and fined the department $800.00. For more information about workers' compensation, click here and for details about the case involving this deputy sheriff, click here.

Can I sue my employer for negligence?

 A person injured on the job in Tennessee cannot sue his or her employer for injuries caused by the negligence of the employer or the employer's negligent failure to furnish a safe workplace.  Nor can an employee sue a co-worker (except for intentional wrongs like assault and battery). The worker's exclusive remedy for benefits is defined by the Tennessee Workers' Compensation Act.  This means that the employee is limited to those benefits that are allowed by the statute for workers' compensation.  

However, an employee can pursue a case against a third party (not the employer) for a work-related injury.  So, for example, if an employee is injured due to the malfunction of a machine in a factory, the employee would not be prevented from suing the manufacturer of the machine in a products liability action (if appropriate) despite the fact that he or she is pursuing workers' compensation benefits.  

If you have been injured on the job and have questions about whether you are entitled to workers' compensation benefits, contact us at (800) 337-HURT (4878) or (615) 356-2000 for legal advice.    

I have a hernia...is it covered?

Te nnessee law specifically addresses the issue of hernias that occur while working.  If you develop a hernia while working, it will be covered if you can prove that a specific injury caused a sudden onset of pain at the site of the hernia (in other words, you knew that something just happened) and that the hernia did not exist prior to the injury on the job.  If the hernia occurred gradually (over time), it will not be compensable.  However, if you have a recurring hernia or you aggravate a previous work-related hernia, it may be covered.  As always, you must timely report the new injury to your employer.  This is especially true with a hernia as it should have appeared so soon after the injury that it would not be possible to attribute it to any other cause.
If you have been injured on the job and have questions about whether you are entitled to workers' compensation benefits, contact Phillip Miller & Associates span> at (800) 337-HURT (4878) or (615) 356-2000 for legal advice.    
  

Do I need a lawyer to handle my work comp case?

Do I have a work comp claim if I am injured while going to or coming from work?

  Maybe.  If you are injured while on the employer's premises coming to or going from your actual place of work, the law says that you are acting in the course of your employment and may be covered.  So, for example, if you are injured in the parking lot of your workplace while passing to or from your job, you may be covered.  
In addition, if your employer furnishes your transportation as part of your employment and you are injured on the way to or from work, the injury may be covered.  Therefore, you may be covered if you are injured during the following times:
(1) the time spent going and coming onto the premises; 
(2) the short interval of time before working hours while waiting to begin or making preparations and a short interval of time after work; 
(3) during regular unpaid rest periods (breaks) taken on the premises; and
(4) unpaid lunch hours on the employer's premises
Also, if you are injured while on a special errand or assignment for your employer, even off of the employer's premises, you may still be covered.   Moreover, if you travel as part of your job description and are injured while on the employer's business (i.e. traveling salesperson), you may also be entitled to workers' compensation benefits.
If you have been injured on the job and have questions about whether you are entitled to workers' compensation benefits, contact Phillip Miller & Associates at (800) 337-HURT (4878) or (615) 356-2000 for legal advice.     
 

Do you have to return to work if you have been hurt on the job?

  If you have been hurt on the job, do you have an obligation to return to work?  It depends.  Benefits for temporary total disability (TTDs) are payable until you are able to return to work or, if you do not return to work, until you have reached maximum medical improvement (recovery).  At that time, your benefits will terminate.  Therefore, if your doctor (1) does not take you off from work, or (2) releases you to return to work, you must return to work if your employer has offered a job for you that does not violate your medical restrictions.  If you choose not to return to work despite the fact that your employer has offered to work within your restrictions, the workers' compensation carrier has no obligation to pay any additional TTDs.  So, what should you do?  Make sure that you clearly communicate with your doctor about your symptoms and pain so that they can make an informed decision about when to release you to return to work and what restrictions you may need.  If your doctor gives you restrictions that your employer cannot accommodate resulting in your inability to return to work or a decrease in the amount of money that you make when you return, then you may be entitled to further benefits.   
If you have been injured on the job and have questions about whether you are entitled to workers' compensation benefits, contact Phillip Miller & Associates at (800) 337-HURT (4878) or (615) 356-2000 for legal advice.    

When is a subcontractor entitled to work comp benefits?

Truck Driving Can Take a Toll on the Body