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          Injured workers in Massachusetts who are disabled from work and receiving workers’ compensation benefits may receive an unexpected “light duty” job offer from their employer.  The light duty job offer by an employer to an injured worker can often times create a confusing situation for the injured worker because they are unclear what they should so in order to protect their own best interests.  It is not uncommon for an employer to not contact an injured worker for many months, even perhaps years, and then all of a sudden a letter with a light duty job offer appears in the mailbox of an injured worker.

Workers’ Compensation insurers have a financial interest in getting an injured worker back to earning wages.  Quite simply, if the injured worker returns to work, the insurer can either reduce or terminate their payment of weekly workers’ compensation benefits to the injured worker.  This is a tremendous cost savings to the workers compensation insurer and will also reduce the employer’s insurance premiums.  The more money that the injured worker is able to make, the less money the injured worker receives in workers’ compensation benefits, and, if the light duty job pays the same amount of money as the injured worker was receiving before he or she got hurt, they will not be entitled to receive any more weekly workers compensation benefits.  So it is easy to understand why these light duty job offers are made by employers. Continue reading

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Another disability benefit available for Massachusetts’ employees injured and out of work for more than one year is social security disability. For more information on who qualifies for SSDI benefits and how you can apply for SSDI, please refer to our SSDI practice area page. It is important to note that any worker who is out of work for one year or who has a condition which will clearly lead to disability lasting more than twelve months should consider filing for social security disability.

There are certain coverage requirements which generally state that a worker must have had a fairly steady work history to qualify; but assuming you do qualify, social security disability could provide significant additional benefits to you and your family in addition to your workers’ compensation benefits. There is no effect on your workers’ compensation claim by filing for social security. Indeed, an award of social security disability benefits may even help your workers’ compensation claim. Social security disability could pay an injured worker and his family up to an additional two thousand four hundred ($2,400.00) per month, depending on the amount of the worker’s pre-injury wages. In addition to monthly money, social security can also provide the worker with Medicare coverage after the second year of social security entitlement. This may be important since many workers who are on workers’ compensation have their health care insurance canceled after being out of work for a period of time. Continue reading

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On May 7, 2012 Sylbert Stewart fell from the edge of a dipping tank into a pool of chemicals, while cleaning the top of ventilation ducts in the course of his employment at the Belmont metal finishing factory where he has been employed for fourteen years. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited his employer for three separate violations in connection with the incident. Mr. Stewart sustained second and third degree burns from his thighs to his feet, and doctors removed skin from his back, chest, and arms for skin grafts to wrap around his legs.

Mr. Stewart received temporary total disability benefits through the Massachusetts workers’ compensation system, which pays 60 percent of his wage loss, and the full cost of medical treatment. However, he did not receive compensation for the scarring on his legs, which covers 38 percent of his total body surface. Currently, in order to be compensated for permanent scarring under the Massachusetts Workers Compensation Act a worker’s blemish has to be on the face, neck, or hands. Thus, if workers are disfigured on their arms, legs, or torsos they do not receive compensation. The disfigurement portion of the Act is obviously pro employer and insurer, which simply fails to take into account the burden it places on the daily life of an employee, like Sylbert Stewart. Continue reading

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Often times, injured workers who are receiving Massachusetts workers’ compensation benefits are mailed a form titled “Form 105 – Agreement to Extend the 180 Day Payment Without Prejudice Period.”  Workers’ compensation insurers may  send this form to an injured worker who has not yet retained an attorney in hopes of getting the unrepresented injured workers to sign the form without fully understanding the ramifications of doing so.  It is usually sent to the injured worker during the 3rd to 5th month of disability following a work injury.

Signing the Agreement to Extend 180 Day Payment Without Prejudice Period form sent to you by the workers’ compensation insurer can have an extremely negative impact on your claim.
Insurance companies will send you this form under the guise that they are doing you a favor and agreeing to pay you for another 180 days, however by signing this form you are giving up legal rights and you may expose yourself to allowing the insurer to legally terminate benefits and put you in the position where you could go many months with no benefits while you fight the insurance company in court.  In order to fully understand why singing this form can have negative consequences for an injured worker, it would be helpful to explain exactly what the 180 Day Payment Without Prejudice Period is.

THE FIRST 180 DAYS AFTER DISABILITY BEGINS

If the insurer has commenced benefits timely, namely within 14 days of notice, the insurer is allowed to stop payments to the employee without obtaining approval of the DIA or the consent of the employee. However the insurer is required to give the employee seven(7) day written notice of their intent to stop benefits. The insurer’s written notice of termination must state their reasons and advise the employee of his or her rights to file a claim for further benefits. Continue reading

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Employees who have been hurt on the job in a Massachusetts workplace may be eligible for benefits through the state workers’ compensation system. This is a form of no-fault insurance that most employers are required by law to provide. It is designed to avoid the need for employees who suffer from job-related accidents or illnesses to bring a personal injury lawsuit against their employers. Benefits available through the workers’ compensation system may extend to medical expenses for the treatment of the job-related injury as well as wage loss and, in some cases, additional programs like worker retraining.Massachusetts workers typically can establish that they qualify for workers’ compensation benefits if they have been unable to perform their job duties for at least five days because of the work-related accident or illness. In some cases, this can consist of an exacerbation of a pre-existing condition that originated outside the job environment but was worsened there. There are several types of benefits for which workers may be eligible. These include permanent and total disability benefits, temporary and total disability benefits, and partial disability benefits.

Permanent and total disability benefits may be available under Section 34A of the Massachusetts workers’ compensation law for workers who have suffered from serious harm on the job. They must be unable to perform any type of work, including the duties of the position that they held at the time of the event precipitating the accident or illness. By contrast, temporary and total disability benefits are provided for people who are unable to hold a job only for a limited period. Partial disability benefits are likely appropriate for someone who can perform some job duties, although not to the same extent as before the injury.

Continue reading

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As we turn the clocks forward in anticipation for spring, it will not be easy for Massachusetts’s residents to forget the past few wintry months. This certainly has been a winter to remember here in the New England region, and not for the most pleasant of reasons. Certain areas of Massachusetts have seen over 100 inches of snowfall in less than a month’s time, and the many difficulties it has caused have been well documented. In order to keep up with the rapid accumulation, companies and officials have been rushing to clear snow from roofs and roadways. Thus, Massachusetts’ workers have been exposed to dangerous working conditions that have led to devastating, and sometimes fatal, consequences.  Continue reading

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In re Kelbe’s Case, the Appeals Court of Massachusetts presented a decision that provides an adequate summary of the “going and coming” rule in worker’s compensation cases, which generally disallows monetary recovery for injured employees. The court’s opinion began with a review of the general rule, which states that workers’ compensation is not usually available to compensate employees who are injured during the course of travel to and from work. However, injuries that occur on the employer’s premises are compensable, as are injuries that occur where the employer owns the right of passage, such as a parking garage. Other exceptions to this general rule include, when the employee’s regular duties involved traveling away from the employer’s premises; when the accident occurred the employee was traveling home from an off-site work-related meeting or social event for the employer; or when the vehicle the employee was in at the time of the accident was provided by the employer for the employee’s travel. Continue reading

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The injured employee in the case of James McDonald v. Brand Energy Services, Inc. was a union laborer who had worked and been injured at work several times dating back to 1991.  In fact, the employee had injured his back four separate times prior to this particular work injury.   With each of the four prior work-related back injuries, the employee received lump sum settlements.  His last injury in which he received a lump sum settlement came in the year 2001.  Approximately three years after his last work related injury he returned to work against the advice of several doctors in 2004.  While employed he did not complete heavy-duty tasks but he did cope with daily pain by taking pain medication while completing lighter assignments. Continue reading

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  Beginning April 1, 2015 Massachusetts will extend employment protections to domestic workers.   The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights will create new legal obligations for individuals or families who employ domestic workers including nannies, housekeepers, caregivers, and other domestic workers.   The new law will create a number of new rights that will improve conditions for domestic workers such as a statutory right to privacy and how a live-in domestic worker may be terminated.   Also, the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights definitively clarified that some existing state laws do extend to domestic workers.   Included among existing Massachusetts laws that will extend to domestic workers are Massachusetts’ workers compensation benefits. Continue reading

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In September of 2014, Massachusetts received a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to enforce activities centered on worker misclassification detection.   The Massachusetts wage and hour laws allow workers who have been misclassified as independent contractors to bring lawsuits seeking monetary compensation against their employers.  Those employers who have wrongly classified their employees as independent contractors are obligated to provide workers’ compensation benefits to those misclassified employees who are injured during the course of their employment.

The Massachusetts independent contractor statute makes it difficult for an employer to classify a worker as an independent contractor.  Employers who misclassify an employee as an independent contractor may be subject to triple damages in accordance with Massachusetts wage and hour laws. Continue reading

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