Why You Always Need To Report When You Are Injured At Work
An industrial manufacturing business failed to report injuries sustained to its workers on the job, and subsequently was in danger of having $525,000 in fines levied against them. An investigation by the Board revealed that the manufacturer failed to report no fewer than 21 employee injuries within the mandated time period. In fact, state law remains firm over the requirement to have such injuries formally disclosed within 10 days of the incident. You will find that further information on melbourne personal injury lawyer is on that site.
This company was ordered to appear in court and show evidence they had reported the injuries, as required by the law, to the Worker's Compensation Board. However, it is expected that the state's inquiry into the case will show that injuries from even a year ago were never revealed to the board. According to record, there were no prior cases of employers being brought up on these charges.
Lawyers representing the Worker's Compensation Board researched the law and discovered no records of a company ever being penalized for not reporting, or under-reporting, their job-related injuries since the option was possible under the 1944 law. The lawyers for the plastic manufacturer in this case also searched for related litigation, but their search yielded nothing. Considering that this attorney primarily handles Workers' Compensation matters, that is an astonishing result.
As yet, there have been no statements by any of the board members regarding the allegations. The manager for Human Resources at the plastic manufacturer has stated the company was looking forward to having a hearing that will resolve this issue. They also find hope in how the information already collected has been evaluated, and are hoping that they can discuss the allegations in further detail at the hearing. Go to this site for further information on melbourne workers compensation lawyers.
Accusations were brought by workers' unions and also individual workers that the under reporting of injuries might have actually been intentional and not an oversight at all. A lot of people, though, consider what the company is doing as an attempt to cheat the system for their own financial gain. In the cases that weren't reported, if the worker couldn't work, the company continued to pay them, as well as paying for the expenses necessary to get them back on their feet.
One attorney working for the United Steelworkers of America commented that keeping a significant number of workplace injuries quiet avoids alerting the proper authorities to conducting wide-scale inspections; it also significantly cuts losses due to damages paid employees whose injuries become chronic even as far as 30 years into the future. Following the action taken by the union, a sudden surge of 60 cases surfaced (all involving unrelated injuries) and were filed with the Board–many of which were dated to 1994. It was determined that in some of those cases, it was the company's failure to correctly interpret the law that caused the delay.
The company could be looking at fines of up to $2,500 per incident not reported within the required timeframe if the Board finds against the company. These accusations are so serious that there could be criminal charges involved. A unit working under the state Attorney General was subsequently assigned to the case.
Most recently, four cases were presented where workers had all or part of their fingers cut off during work at the plant; investigation continues into these and other allegations of under reported injuries.
In a $350,000 lawsuit filed by a former employee, she states her health insurance benefits were canceled by the company while she was off work and on Worker's Compensation, but they continued to cash the premium payments she was making.
The Director of the United Steelworkers of America has indicated that the union demands a company-wide investigation into the allegations that have been surfacing regarding conditions in one of the plants. The business in question has four plants in Illinois and Indiana aside from the one in question.
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