Rogers, AR Workplace Injury Attorney
If you have been injured in Rogers, Arkansas while at work you probably have a lot of questions and concerns. Who will pay your medical bills, who will pay your wages, will you be able to come back to work and recover from your injuries. While hopefully, your injuries are minor and you can quickly recover and resume work, others find themselves facing severe and potentially life-threatening injuries.
Don’t face a complex and intricate system like the Workers’ Compensation system alone, contact an experienced attorney today who will be able to explain the complicated and confusing system to you.
Common Workplace Injuries
Each and every profession faces their own unique challenges and risks. Some professions are what you might consider to be low risk, such as those whose work requires them only to work in a little cubicle. However, other professions have a much higher risk of injury associated with them. Construction workers, mechanics, and even retailer workers have a much higher risk of being injured on the job. These workers are exposed to a variety of different factors that all increase the chance of injury, and some of the most common forms of workplace injury include:
Occupational diseases – Workers who develop a disease as a result of working in a certain environment may face significant hardships and even death as a result of their disease. Occupational diseases are contracted from workers facing exposure to certain risk factors related to their work activity. One of the most famous and detrimental occupational diseases to arise over the past several decades is lung cancer related to asbestos.
Occupational injuries – Workers who are injured on the job can quickly find themselves out of a job and facing significant medical bills. Occupational injuries can result from exposure to a variety of conditions. In Arkansas, one of the most common occupational injury are those attributed to slips, trips, and falls.
Overexertion injuries – Thousands of workers are injured every day because they are not provided with the proper equipment to move materials around, or because their materials are not properly loaded. In these cases, a worker may develop an overexertion injury, which can lead them to miss work, or being wholly unable to perform their job.
Neck and back injuries – Neck and back injuries can be not only painful but can also be debilitating and deadly. Back injuries are consistently one of the most common workplace injuries. Back and neck injuries can include herniated discs, broken vertebrae, whiplash, and spinal cord nerve damage.
Sprains and strains – Sprains and strains are also amongst the most common workplace injuries. While some people may believe that a sprain or strain is not a serious hindrance to a worker, a report from Travelers Insurance found that the average strain or sprain results in a worker missing almost sixty days of work.
Filing an Injury Claim Against Your Employer
When you are injured or sustain an injury that is related to your job, you may have several different options for recovery. Most employees and injured parties assume that because they have been injured that they are required to file a personal injury claim. While this line of thinking would be correct, Arkansas law requires that injured workers file a claim with the Workers’ Compensation Commission, unless there was gross negligence on the part of the employer. Under this compensation system, a worker who has been injured can potentially recover costs related to medical care and treatment, travel expenses for care and treatment, as well as a portion of their lost wages.
However, in the event that the company or business has been negligent, then a worker may be entitled to file a personal injury claim. However, there are benefits and detriments to both sides. A workers compensation claim is generally faster than filing a personal injury claim and can help a worker who has been injured maintain their status quo while they are recovering. However, the worker’s compensation system is not able to compensate an injured worker for all of their expenses and care.
Conversely, a personal injury case can be filed against an employer in the event that the employer or a third party was negligent, and their negligence resulted in your accident and injury. Where a personal injury case can provide injured workers for certain noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering and emotional trauma, whereas the workers compensation system cannot. A personal injury case also takes considerably longer. Since a personal injury case must go through all of the various stages of litigation and pre-trail scheduling, a worker who has been injured may not receive any compensation if at all for years after their injury.
Have You Been Injured at Work? Contact an Experienced Rogers Workplace Injury Attorney
If you find yourself injured and unable to work, you may have many questions and concerns. Ken Kieklak, Attorney at Law is here to address those concerns and provide you with aggressive and dedicated legal representation. We have been representing injured workers in Rogers for nearly two decades and are dedicated to helping you and your family. For your free and confidential legal consultation call us at (479) 316-0438 or contact us online.