Extension Cord Trip And Fall At Work In San Bernardino Lawyer

The State of California leads the country in both population, at 38 million people, and in worker’s compensation claims, with approximately 19 million workers filing more than 650,000 claims each year. The math works out to approximately 3.5% of the workforce filing a workers’ compensation claim annually for various injuries. One of the more frequent workplace injury claims filed with worker’s compensation every year is trip and fall-related. Approximately 66,000 claims were filed in two different categories that capture falls as a cause in 2023, totaling just a little less than 10% of all the worker’s compensation claims made that year. The classifications that capture the falling accident descriptions are “on the same level” and “Fall, Slip, Trip, Not Otherwise Classified”. If you are hurt while at work, please get in touch with the Normandie Law Firm for assistance. We will assign an Extension cord trip and fall at work in San Bernardino lawyer to help you with your claim. We have a skilled legal team of experienced staff who have been helping people like you handle their worker’s compensation claims.

Workplace injuries involving extension cord tripping hazards are pretty common when you think about worker’s compensation case volumes. What makes them unusual, at the same time, is that they are one of the few hazards that exist in nearly every type of industry and job role. When you think about how typical an extension cord is and how many ways they are used daily, nobody should be surprised at how many times it happens every year. The trip and fall hazard is prevalent across many different industries and roles, affecting every type of employee in every work environment, from manufacturing facilities to business offices in Fortune 500 companies. A trip and fall can cause a range of injuries, some related to the environment, and others related to factors such as speed and the surface on which you fall. If you have to file a worker’s compensation claim, please call our legal staff at the Normandie Law Firm. We want to share the years of experience dealing with worker’s compensation injuries and the insurance program here in California.

It doesn’t matter what your role is or what kind of business your job supports. The Normandie Law Firm is ready to help you with your worker’s compensation claim. We are prepared to take your call around the clock. Our mission is to provide you with the information you need when you have been injured and to answer your questions about the process, benefits, and your rights. When you contact the team at Normandie Law Firm, we will be ready to respond to those questions and anything else you are concerned about. If your first call to us doesn’t provide you with all the answers you need, our staff will schedule a free initial consultation for you with an extension cord trip and fall at work in San Bernardino lawyer. We will get this meeting on your calendar as soon as you have an opening in your schedule.

The goal of our first meeting is to gather the details about your accident and the information on your injury. This includes the hazard that caused your accident, the prognosis of your injury and future medical needs, as well as any history about this particular hazard. When we have all of that information documented and reviewed, we will go over how the worker’s compensation program works with you. We will be discussing the benefits, including worker’s comp covering your medical bills, the importance of documenting out of pocket expenses for reimbursement, as well as getting short-term disability if you cannot work until you are healed up. We will ask about the status of your claim, and if you haven’t completed the claim process at that time, we will be telling you about the time limit to get your claim filed with worker’s compensation.

Our Recent Verdicts and Settlements

Time Limits and Worker’s Compensation In California
The time limit to file a claim with the worker’s compensation insurance program is 30 calendar days. The 30-day period begins on the date of the accident and your injury. If the claim is not filed in that 30-day window, it is very likely going to be denied if there are no circumstances around the delay. We also want to advise you that you are allowed to file a worker’s compensation claim after you no longer employed with the company where the accident happened. As long as your claim is filed within that same 30-day time limit, with the accident happening while you were still employed. There are a few exceptions to the regular 30-day time limit, and one of them is for any injury diagnosed as caused by cumulative trauma.

What Is A Cumulative Trauma Injury In A Worker’s Compensation Case?
A cumulative trauma injury happens over a period of time from what is typically a non-traumatic injury. It might be a repetitive task, such as typing or staring at a monitor for long periods, or lifting items like batteries in a car repair shop, or similar. There is no predetermined frequency of the task, nor a defined level of trauma associated with it. Repetition causes wear on your body, which eventually leads to injury through accumulation. Any cumulative trauma injury has a 1-year time limit to file your claim. The time limit begins on the first day you seek treatment for the pain of this injury. The diagnosis should be documented by a medical professional and submitted as part of the claim process. The time limit is longer because it may take some time to diagnose the injury as work-related.

What Kind Of Injuries Are Most Common From Trip and Fall Hazards?
We mentioned above that many jobs and roles are associated with common injuries, often caused by hazards that are frequently encountered and related to the environment in which you work every day. As trip and fall injuries occur in many different industries, the resulting injuries are fairly consistent, but their severity varies. The common injuries that our clients experience most often are listed below, and they include:

• Broken or fractured bones from impacting the surface you work on frequently, with harder surfaces doing more damage in terms of the severity of the break and the location on your body
• Sprains that cause damage to the connective tissue of joints, sometimes causing a joint dislocation, tearing ligaments, and muscle tissue
• Neck and back injuries like muscle strains or pinched nerves from sudden or abrupt stops as you hit the ground, sometimes while lifting a heavy object or item, or because you reacted suddenly to a hazard and attempted to prevent yourself from falling
• Head injuries, such as minor concussions or skull fractures, are caused by hard falls and an inability to raise your hand or arm to break the fall or decrease the speed of the impact

What Kind Of Injuries Will Be Covered By Worker’s Compensation Insurance?
If an employee is hurt at work while performing their job duties, the injury will typically be covered by the worker’s compensation program. There is no specific kind or type of injury that is not covered. Claims are denied, and what causes that is information coming from an investigation that shows the accident occurred because of the behavior of the employee. This means that the accident was in part or in total attributed to the conduct of the employee. For example, if an employee is involved in a vehicle accident and was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Another example would be if the employee were attempting self-harm. Under such circumstances, the claim is likely to be denied. It is not going to be related to the type of injury, only the behavior that led to the accident itself.

Key Benefits Provided By Worker’s Compensation Insurance For Employees Hurt In California

All employees in the State of California who are covered by worker’s compensation insurance qualify to receive some or all of the injury benefits listed below. This is not an exhaustive list of all benefits offered.

• A total of 1 million dollars per injury incident, paying for items like your medical care at both hospital and doctor’s bills, the cost of any prescriptions, needed and prescribed physical therapy and rehabilitation, any rental or purchase costs of required medical equipment like canes, crutches, braces, beds, or a wheelchair, and any other medical treatment related costs including those that might be out of pocket of related to medical treatment
• If you are unable to return to work until you have fully recovered from your injuries, you may receive up to 66% of your regular weekly income for a maximum time period of 104 weeks, but not more than the state maximum short-term disability pay amount
• Should you suffer long-term limitation or a disability because of the workplace injury, the program provides long-term disability payments, including lifetime benefits if applicable
• If your injuries will prevent you from returning to work and doing your original job, you are eligible for free vocational training in a different career after you are cleared to return to work by your doctors

Filing A Personal Injury Lawsuit Against My Company In Addition To Worker’s Compensation
You can file a personal injury lawsuit against your company when you have been hurt at work, but only under some very specific circumstances. Under normal circumstances, you are not permitted to sue your company for causing your injuries at work. Worker’s compensation is an exclusive remedy for workplace injuries, meaning that worker’s comp insurance is no fault and assumes liability of the company, and immediately covers your injuries unless an investigation determines otherwise. This permits immediate payment of benefits, coverage of medical bills, short-term disability, etc.

This is where the circumstances around the incident come into question. The company’s liability for causing your injuries is something that can be reviewed with your extension cord trip and fall at work in San Bernardino lawyer. If there is a possibility that your employer committed gross negligence, you will be able to file a lawsuit. The circumstance in question is called gross negligence. The legal definition of gross negligence in California is willful misconduct or a reckless disregard for the safety of others. To win this suit, we must prove that they acted in this manner and that their actions caused the accident resulting in your injury.

There are some items that worker’s compensation does not cover, benefit-wise. The damages you can sue for are limited to the items that worker’s compensation does not cover 100% of, or pay for at all. The remaining difference between your regular weekly income and what worker’s comp paid, the pain and suffering component, the loss of personal equipment all fall under things that you can seek for damages.

What Are The Upfront Expenses For Hiring The Normandie Law Firm?
When you hire a Normandie Law Firm Extension cord trip and fall at work in San Bernardino lawyer, we will not be charging any upfront legal fees before we take you on as a client. If we do not win your case, the Normandie Law Firm will not charge you. Please get in touch with the Normandie Law Firm with questions you have about the costs to represent you if you are filing a claim with the workers’ compensation program in the State of California.

Other Pages on Our Website Related to This Topic
Average Payout For An Ankle Injury Worker’s Comp Case
McKesson Distribution Center Workplace Injury Attorney
Golf Cart Work Injury Attorney