Charleston Personal Injury Lawyer - Workplace Injuries

Workers Compensation Approved for Illegal Immigrants

Pat Jennings — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:45:15 GMT

The Supreme Court of South Carolina recently handed down a ruling that the citizenship of injured workers should not influence their ability to recover for an on the job injury. The court found that illegal immigrants are entitled to the same benefits under the South Carolina Workers Compensation Code as every other worker in state. This decision came on the heels of a case involving an undocumented Mexican employee who was injured while working on a demolition job. He suffered a detached retina and the employer; Environmental Management Services did not feel as though it owed any benefits to its alien workers because of federal laws, which prohibit hiring these illegal immigrants. Although the company was gaining the benefits of these employees, it did not want to be liable for injuries suffered while they were gainfully employed.

In it's decision, the Supreme Court found that holding out these benefits to undocumented workers would essentially mean that they would not have to have insure their employees. "Disallowing benefits would mean unscrupulous employers could hire undocumented workers without the burden of insuring them, a consequence that would encourage rather than discourage the hiring of illegal workers," Justice James Moore wrote in the unanimous opinion. Other southern states including North Carolina have had similar decisions handed down on this subject, something that was noted in the unanimous opinion. Recent estimates find the number of illegal immigrants in South Carolina may range from 75,000 to 400,000.

Senator Glenn McConnell says that he does not agree with the high court's ruling. He feels that these illegal workers have "unclean hands" because they may not be upfront with their employers and that the taxpayers should not be footing the bill for their medical expenses. "We cannot afford for people who know they're illegal to come inhere and get the benefit that's going to be shared by the general public in terms of rates. That's just wrong - that's unfair," says McConnell.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Workers Compensation.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Pat Jennings

WA Man Fraudulently Collects Workers' Compensation Benefits

Pat Jennings — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 18:08:50 GMT

A Washington man has recently been sentenced to jail time following illegal collection of funds after a work injury. Willard Leech, a resident of Bellingham, had suffered a lumbar injury that put him out of work, although at the same time in which he was collecting benefits, Leech was also working a carpentry job for more than 10 months. This included maneuvering on ladders and manipulating roofing into place. He will serve 30 days in jail as well as 12 months of community supervision for the unlawful activities. In addition, the courts ordered Leech to repay nearly $19,000 in illegally collected money and court costs.

The Department of Labor and Industries conducted an investigation into the benefits that were being received by Leech. Assistant Attorney General Susan DanPullo used this investigation to find grounds into eventually filing charges against the carpenter whom pled guilty to first-degree theft.

The original workers compensation claim for which these charges began was filed in 1988, closed and then re-opened in 2004. After the Department of Labor and Industries exposed Leech's fraudulent accepting of the funds, they moved to file criminal charges. This act was fueled by the fact that Leech had previously been ordered to repay over $5000, after he had committed fraud in 2003 against the department for illegally collecting workers compensation benefits.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Workers Compensation.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Pat Jennings

Potential Workers Compensation Claim for 2000 Employees

Pat Jennings — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 17:02:36 GMT

A Rock Hill company may find itself with one of the largest Workers Compensation cases in the South Carolina state history. A meeting will take place Friday, August 24 at the Winthrop Coliseum that may bring in as many as 2000 former employees at the Celanese plant.

Attorney Chad McGowan, of Rock Hill, will be conducting the meeting in order to gauge the interest in pursuing legal action. Both cancer and respiratory ailments have been linked to the plant, due to the use of certain chemicals in which were repeatedly used, such as benzene and toloene.

Doctors of Duke University have been working on the potential claimants as well as attorneys from Charleston and Miami, FL in relation to the illnesses. McGowan has been placing advertisements in The Herald newspaper over the course of teh last month in order to stir the interest in the potential suit. He says that he interest is growing very quickly. "We've been getting calls literally every five minutes since these ads started running."

Celanese employed over 1600 people at its highest peak and constructed the materials commonly used in furniture, suit linings and cigarettes. Jobs were drastically cut due to overseas competition, and the plant was ultimately forced to shut down in April 2005.

For more information on this subject matter, please review our section on Workers Compensation.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Pat Jennings

SC Restaurant has no Worker's Comp Insurance on Burned Employee

Pat Jennings — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 11:41:53 GMT

Just over a month ago, Smokehouse Restaurant employee Kevin Lane suffered second degree burns over nearly twenty percent of his body following an accident at work. The employer failed to hold Worker's Compensation Insurance on Lane, and may end up paying dearly for being in direct violation of South Carolina laws relating to this situation. An employer that has four or more employees must have insurance over their workers for situations such as this, where one is injured on the job.

"I went to light the grill and it blew up and that's all I remember," Lane said following his accident at the Lugoff, SC location. Jason's mother, Joanne had trouble even looking at her son upon first glance and said that his arms, legs and face had all been burned. She also added that the surgical procedures and therapy would cost thousands of dollars, to which medical providers are already seeking from the victim's family due to Smokehouse's lack of Worker's Compensation Insurance. Lane's operations were performed at the Augusta Burn Center following the accident just outside of Columbia.

The Lanes are currently preparing for a lawsuit against the restaurant, and are hoping for financial assistance in the near future. Smokehouse owners issued this statement regarding their insurance knowledge: "We were told we didn't have to have Worker's Comp on our part-time employees. Since the accident, we have applied for Worker's Compensation. After the accident we paid him his weekly salary until we received a letter from his lawyer. We were advised to stop any contact or payment to Mr. Lane by our attorney." The State of South Carolina does currently have a program in which allows injured employees to file suits against their uninsured employer at the time of the accident.

For more information on this subject matter, please refer to the section on Workplace Injuries and Discrimination.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Pat Jennings

Joye Law Firm Offers to Gratuitously Assist Families of Nine Fireman Killed In a Recent Fire in Charleston, South Carolina

Amy Rothschild — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:18:29 GMT

On June 18, 2007, a local furniture store in South Carolina caught on fire during business hours. City of Charleston firemen rushed to the scene. Nine (9) firemen entered the burning building in order to insure that no employees were trapped inside. While the employees were able to make their way out of the building, nine (9) of the responding fire fighters were not as fortunate when the blazing building collapsed on the men. All nine (9) men perished in the blaze.

This is the first death of a fireman in Charleston County since 1969. The community has been deeply affected by this tremendous loss and funds have been established to assist the families of the deceased firemen.

When a worker dies in a job-related accident, that worker's family is entitled to death benefits under South Carolina's workers' compensation laws. Joye Law Firm, L.L.P., has contacted the Mayor of Charleston to offer to assist the families of the fireman in procuring the benefits to which they are now entitled free of charge.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Amy Rothschild

Contractor dies following work accident

Pat Jennings — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 16:12:23 GMT

Things went awry during the refurbishing of a Texas City, TX refinery when contractor Richard Liening was fatally electrocuted. At the time of the accident, Liening was working on a residual hydrotreater unit. The unit was idle, but had been reconditioned, and is used primarily to upgrade low-quality oil.

Unfortunately this is not the first accident to happen at the Texas plant. An explosion in March 2005 resulted in the death of 15 people and was the worst of numerous incidents on record. The year previous, two workers were fatally burned to death by superheated water, and just last year another contractor died after he was pinned against structural steel for an extended period of time.

Following the hurricane season of 2005, the refinery has been unable to operate at full strength, and usually only reaches half of it's capacity. Hurricane Rita has drastically affected the production, which once saw a 460,000-barrel-a-day maximum at one time. The refinery was completely closed following this tremendous storm, and it is expected to be back at full rate by the turn of the year.

BP emergency crews responded immediately to the accident and Liening was taken to the University of Texas Medical Branch. Galveston County Medical Examiner Stephen Pustilnik was slated to perform an autopsy today.
In a statement, BP said it was "deeply saddened by this accident and the resulting loss of life." Spokesman Ronnie Chappell said that his employer notified appropriate authorities, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Pat Jennings

State Worker Injured on the Job

Pat Jennings — Wed, 30 May 2007 18:25:00 GMT

A mental hospital worker was stabbed with a kitchen knife late on the evening of Monday May 27. Upon his refusal to take medication connected with his mental illnesses, the 17-year-old patient went on the offensive. As soon as one supervisor to another called for assistance, the boy began to attack with the weapon.

The 37 year old state-contracted victim was rushed to the hospital nearby the West Jordan, Utah attack site. Her condition is not currently known, however the mental patient is currently in the custody of police.

Lt. Bob Schober of the West Jordan Police Department said, "Right now we're still trying to determine what to do with the young boy. We're contacting the district attorney's office and we will probably make a decision on where we will take him. More than likely the possibility of going to the detention center, the juvenile detention center."

The victim was the third caregiver whom was attempting to provide the teenager with his medication. He had refused the same to the first two hospital employees before emerging from his room carrying the knife. The handicapped young man lives amongst several other mentally disabled patients varying in age. According to police he had never become violent before this incident and actually called for help following the stabbing. His condition stems from fetal alcohol syndrome

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Pat Jennings

Laborer Killed in School Construction Accident

Mark Joye — Thu, 10 May 2007 11:25:35 GMT

An Ecuadorian laborer who was working at a school site in Brooklyn, NY, died in a construction accident last week when a trench he was working in collapsed and buried him under tons of dirt.

Dirt, debris and tools so thoroughly covered the worker, identified by the police as Juan Amendano, 30, of Brooklyn, that it took rescue workers nearly an hour to dig him out. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
When Mr. Amendano's body was uncovered, his legs were entangled in his shovel, fire officials said.

Amendano was waterproofing the school's foundation when the accident occurred. He was a day laborer who was hired for different jobs every morning and paid cash when the workday ended.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Mark Joye

Tree Service Owner Arrested for Lack of Workers' Comp Insurance

Christina Cole — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 22:50:03 GMT

The owner of Don Estlund's Tree Service is facing charges for operating without workers' compensation insurance.

Allegedly, he admitted to operating his business for eight years without state-mandated coverage when one of his employees incurred a steep medical debt after suffering an injury on the job.

He was arrested, on Thursday and booked into the Sarasota County Jail. If convicted of the charge, he could face up to 15 years in prison along with fines and restitutions.

Workers' Compensation insurance is required by state law to protect workers and is vitally important to those with high risk jobs, said Florida's Chief Financial Officer, in charge of Department of Financial Services.

In 2005, Estlund's employee, had his left arm and hand crushed by a falling 12-foot section of tree, causing him to incur $255,759 in medical expenses.

Detectives said because Estlund operated outside of the law, Aicher has found himself solely responsible for all injury-related bills. If convicted, Estlund could be held responsible for all expenses that would have been covered by the workers' compensation insurance, including Aicher's medical bills, rehabilitation expenses and loss of wages, the release said.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Christina Cole