Federal and state laws require employers to make work environments as safe as possible. To help employers comply with those laws, an entire industry exists around personal protective equipment.
When safety equipment poses a hazard
Fall-protection equipment can cause injury or worse
What happens at a workers' comp hearing?
A New York worker legitimately injured on the job has a right to expect at least one benefit under the state's workers' compensation system: immediate medical treatment for the injury.
Further benefits, such as money benefits and rehabilitation treatments for a disability, may require a legal process and the filing of proper notifications with the employer and with the Workers' Compensation Board.
How does the rehabilitation process work? - Part 2
Helping workers who are injured on the job is about more than just providing necessary care. To the extent possible, the workers' compensation system has a legal mandate to provide additional rehabilitative services.
As we described in our last post, rehabilitation can take two forms: physical rehabilitation and vocational rehabilitation. The first incorporates the elements most people associate with minor to moderate injuries: pain management, diagnostic tests, surgeries, and physical therapy.
How does the rehabilitation process work? - Part 1
Workers' compensation rehabilitation can come in two forms. The first is physical rehabilitation. The elements include medical treatments or physical therapy prescribed to help you heal and restore you to normal, or as close to normal, function as possible. The second is vocational rehabilitation, often necessary if your injury leaves you unable to return to the same work you had been doing.
In this post we explore processes associated with physical rehabilitation, to give you an idea of what to expect when you file a claim under the New York workers' compensation system. In our next post, we will turn our attention to vocational rehabilitation benefits.
What happens if my employer doesn’t have workers' comp insurance?
It's difficult to fathom that an employer in New York, required to have workers' compensation insurance, would choose to not carry it. Yet, some employers don’t have coverage.
Fortunately, if you get hurt on the job and then find that your company doesn't have the necessary insurance, there are still ways for you to seek recovery of the costs associated with the medical care you receive and wage loss suffered.
I've been denied recommended injury treatment. What now?
Medicine is a science. Or, it's an art. Maybe it's both. Insurers and medical practitioners can't achieve consensus. The disagreement has special implications for New York workers injured on the job.
Workers' compensation mandates coverage for medical treatment for work injuries – within set guidelines. If you and your doctor decide to stray from the treatment listed in those guidelines, the insurance company may deny payment for that treatment. In some such circumstances, seeking a variance might be necessary.
Insurers track your social media posts for ways to deny claims
Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram are the most-used social media platforms by adults in the United States. Facebook and YouTube stand out as the overall leaders, and results of a recent survey indicate most individuals are active on more than one of the platforms.
If you are among those who use social media, you should know that virtually nothing is private anymore. Indeed, social media is such an open book that those in the workers' compensation industry make it a practice to scour the platforms to uncover fraud and deny claims.
The price you can pay for power tool efficiency
We live in a motorized world. Few would want it any other way. Tasks that took hours or days by muscle power alone take minutes or seconds with the many gas- and electric-powered hand tools.
As with any advancement in technology, efficiencies come at a price. For workers who regularly use any kind of power tools, the price is an increased risk of hand-arm vibration syndrome.
Things employers do to skirt workers' comp requirements
If your employer or supervisor takes a cavalier attitude toward rules and regulations, it could be a sign of trouble ahead. Disregard for the law could have implications if you suffer a work injury and seek the workers' compensation benefits to which you are entitled.
These are bad signs
Can I get workers' compensation if I'm older than 65?
If you are doing work for a for-profit business and getting paid for it, New York Workers' Compensation Law says you are eligible for benefits if you are hurt on the job. It does not matter how old you are.
Perhaps a better way of asking the question in the title of this post is, "Can I get workers' compensation if I'm retired and collecting a pension or Social Security?" This is a fair question for anyone to be asking these days. While 65 is a traditional retirement age, many people do not leave the workforce until they are much older. Some people like working. Others feel they can't afford to retire.
