Workplace Injuries

Workplace Injuries

Most adults spend a large part of their waking hours at work, so it is not surprising that in a nation of hundreds of millions, there are many injuries at the workplace.  What is surprising to some is that negligent employers are generally immune from liability for the human harms and losses their negligence causes. Many years ago, employers lobbied legislatures across the country to adopt workers compensation laws that prevent injured employees from suing their employers, even when employers cause preventable harm through carelessness or recklessness.  With rare exceptions, that’s generally the law, including here in Oregon.

Sometimes, however, an injury at a workplace is caused by someone other than the employer or a fellow employee.  Examples include a dangerously defective product that was not manufactured by the employer; vendors that are separate companies that cause harm at the workplace; and general contractors who fail in their responsibilities for safety at job sites where employees of subcontractors and others work.  These are often called “third party” cases. Unfortunately, third party cases are often overlooked. For example, OSHA, which investigates many workplace deaths and serious injuries, focuses on the employer, and very rarely identifies responsible third parties. Only a third party case can help an injured worker with such losses as the ability to enjoy life and to perform normal activities other than work; these and other losses are not covered by the workers compensation system.

After a workplace injury, an injured worker may need two distinctly different kinds of legal help: a workers compensation attorney for the workers comp claim, and a personal injury attorney who is knowledgeable about third party cases for on-the-job injuries.  The workers compensation attorney should be skilled in the sometimes arcane world of the administrative law that governs the workers comp system. The personal injury attorney should be experienced in trying cases for injured workers in court in front of a jury.  The Corson & Johnson law firm does not practice workers compensation law, but their attorneys have been successfully representing injured workers in the courts for decades.