Strains, sprains, and muscle tears are the most common workplace injuries that keep people from working in the United States. Although they affect every industry, the most vulnerable people labor in physically demanding jobs in transportation, warehousing, agriculture, forestry, and healthcare.

Pulled Muscle

If you overuse a back muscle–either in a single, stressful incident or by repeating the same movement over and over–you may strain it. Twisting is especially stressful for the back, so even office workers who frequently swivel between tasks risk pulling a lower back muscle.

Sprained Back

If you expose a back ligament to intense stress–again, either through repetitive movement, like moving boxes, or a single incident–it may tear. A torn back ligament, or a back sprain, takes longer to heal than a pulled muscle.

Pulled muscles and sprained backs are the most common causes of lower back pain; fortunately, though they might not feel like it, they're also the easiest to treat. Most strains will heal naturally in several weeks, although physical therapy can prevent future injuries. (Learn more about identifying and treating lumbar sprains and pulled muscles here.)

Slipped Disk

A slipped disk, or hernia, is the result of overexertion (e.g., from lifting a hospital patient). The disk protrudes from the spine and pinches adjacent nerves, causing lower back pain and sciatica. (Learn more about recognizing the symptoms of a slipped disk here.)

 Broken Vertebrae

There's nothing subtle about a broken spine, nor much surprising about what causes it. Workplace accidents, often in dangerous industries like manufacturing and farming, can break the bones in the vertebrae, sometimes leading to chronic back pain that lasts for years.

 Spinal Cord Injury

Damage to the nerves of the spinal cord causes loss of sensation, loss of function, and, sometimes, even paralysis.

Navigating a workplace injury can be an overwhelming undertaking. We're here to help you get compensation, so you can focus on getting better. To learn more, contact Smith, Wallis, and Scott, LLP.

What Can You Do If Your Company Didn't Buy Workers' Compensation Insurance (and Should Have), and Then You Got Hurt on the Job

When you are injured on the Job, you expect your Employer to cover ensuing medical bills and loss of wages. Unfortunately, many businesses lack workers' compensation insurance and are, therefore, unable to provide injured workers the remuneration they deserve.

Dealing with a complete lack of compensation in the aftermath of a workplace accident? Unfortunately, your options are limited, as detailed below:

No Lawsuits

In general, workers' compensation is the sole remedy for employees injured on the Job. Except under extreme circumstances, injured workers cannot sue their employers, even if they fail to obtain proper insurance coverage. However, there are rare cases in which an incident occurring on a company's premises can be classified as personal injury. Consult a qualified attorney to determine how your injury is defined and whether litigation is possible.

Request a Hearing with the State Board

Georgia employers are legally required to obtain workers' compensation insurance. If they fail to do so, they may still be required to cover medical costs and other expenses. Your best bet as an injured employee might be to file a claim with Georgia's State Board of Workers' Compensation.

A skilled attorney can help you gather proof of your injury, how it impacts your daily life, and whether it occurred as a result of a workplace accident or due to the strain of your daily job-related activities. Depending on the intricacies of your case and your workers compensation lawyer's skill, you could secure coverage for health care costs, wage loss, and even a ten percent increase in payment as punishment. Additionally, your Employer may be assessed a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per uninsured Employee, along with criminal fines or even imprisonment.

Not sure how to handle your Georgia workers' compensation case? Contact your Carrollton, Georgia workers compensation lawyers at Smith, Wallis, and Scott, LLP, today to schedule a consultation.

In Georgia, if you are injured at work, you are usually limited to 400 weeks of income and medical benefits paid for by your Employer's insurance. For certain injuries, income and medical benefits are extended for life or until you can return back to work. Those injuries are called "catastrophic injuries" under Georgia law.

Automatic Catastrophic Injuries

Certain injuries are automatically deemed catastrophic. These include:

Spinal cord injuries involving paralysis of an arm, leg, or trunk;
Amputation of an arm, leg, foot, or hand;
Traumatic brain injuries (TBI);
2nd or 3rd-degree burn to 25% of the body as a whole, or 5% 3rd degree burns to the hand or face;
Total or industrial blindness
Other Catastrophic Injuries or the Georgia Catch-All

While the above-mentioned injuries are automatically deemed catastrophic, any other injury of a nature and severity that prevents an injured worker from being able to perform their prior work—or any other work available in substantial numbers within the national economy for which the Employee is otherwise qualified—may also be categorized as "catastrophic."

Additional Benefits for Georgia Catastrophic Work Injuries

In addition to the extended income and medical benefits available for workers suffering a catastrophic injury, a rehabilitation supplier is appointed by the State Board to work with the injured worker. Rehab suppliers do not work for the insurance company and are responsible for coordinating all of the medical care and rehabilitation requirements needed by the injured worker. They may also recommend and facilitate vocational training to teach injured workers new skills in an attempt for them to be able to reenter the workforce. Having a rehab supplier is extremely beneficial.

Worker's compensation exists in part to reduce friction between employees and employers. The system helps guarantee that hurt workers obtain fair and full benefits, AND it aims to shield employers from having to go through costly, lengthy court actions.

In general, by accepting worker's compensation, the Employee forfeits the right to sue. However, if the Employer acted in a particularly reckless fashion – exposing you to harm due to gross negligence, for instance – you can possibly file a personal injury lawsuit to obtain damages for medical bills, time off work, pain and suffering, therapy costs, and other expenses.

For instance, let's say you worked in a glass manufacturing facility and developed lung disease after years of being exposed to particulates circulated by the ventilation system. The owners knew that workers were breathing in dangerously high levels of glass dust, but she intentionally avoided changing the filters to save money. This type of egregious conduct could put the Employer at risk of being sued.

Here's another situation that could lead to civil action. A business that had a legal obligation to get worker's compensation insurance fails to do so. Then an employee gets hurt and needs coverage. But there is none. Depending on circumstances, the worker can file suit against the Employer.

In some instances, you may file a negligence lawsuit against a third party. Here are a few examples:

Defective Equipment

If shoddy equipment causes harm, you could take action against the manufacturer or designer for the bad product. For instance: while you're working on a landscaping project, a safety clip on a piece of gardening equipment fails because of a malfunction, leaving you with a broken arm and concussion. You can sue the company that made the safety clip.

Construction Work

Construction companies frequently use subcontractors. An employee of a subcontractor injured on the Job might have grounds to sue the general contractor or the property owner if negligence or safety violations were involved in the incident.

Other Parties

If someone other than your Employer, co-worker, or supervisor was involved in the accident – a person with no connection to the Employer – you might pursue a claim against that individual. In rare cases, a co-worker may be personally sued if the individual was "acting outside the scope of employment." That could mean a person who had already finished work for the day and officially punched out a time clock – they were on their "own" time, not the Employer.

Do I need an attorney for my Georgia workers' compensation case? This is a question I get frequently. Unlike other types of cases, such as filing for a divorce or a small claims court case, worker's compensation is a body of law that is highly complex to navigate without representation. When you get injured at work, there are a series of laws that come into play that are totally unrelated to anything you may have been used to in the past.

For instance, in workers' compensation cases, you are entitled to receive a check for 66% of your average weekly wage, 100% of your medical treatment, and a permanent disability rating based on your disability.

But there is a catch. You have to properly report your case within 30 days of your accident. Many times you have to go to a company doctor first. And lastly and most importantly, you have to fill out a ton of forms. Many of these forms have complicated and confusing language that may result in you throwing away your right to choose a doctor of your choice.

If only all cases were clear-cut, maybe an attorney would not be necessary. But, unfortunately, this is not the case.

What happens if you were injured but did not report it within 30 days and just continued working until the pain was unbearable?

What if your Employer fires you for not keeping up with production?

What if the accident was your fault?

All great questions. You still have a case. At Smith, Wallis & Scott, LLP, we can help you navigate the process.

Bottom line: you need an attorney. Don't delay.

Call us at 770-214-2500 to speak with a work injury lawyer in Carrollton now.

In Georgia, if a work injury prevents you from earning income, you are entitled to receive weekly temporary total disability (TTD) benefits while you are unable to work. Typically, the amount of TTD benefits you will receive will be 2/3 of the average amount paid to you by your Employer during the 13 weeks prior to the work accident. What happens if an individual has two jobs and is unable to work either Job because of a work injury? Are they able to receive compensation for losing income for both jobs? In Georgia, the answer to that question is "it depends."

Two Prong Test

In order to receive compensation for loss of income from a second job due to a work injury, the injured worker must prove two things. The injured must prove that both jobs were performed concurrently and that both jobs are similar in nature. This gives rise to the legal term "similar concurrent employment."

Similar Employment

In order to pass this part of the test, an injured worker must show that both jobs are similar in nature. Take, for example, a person who drives a bus for a school system during the week and works on the weekend driving new buses and delivering them to customers. Since both jobs are similar in nature, i.e., they both involve driving a bus, the income earned for both jobs is eligible to be used when calculating the amount of TTD benefits owed to an injured worker.

Concurrent Employment 

In the past, in order to prove concurrent employment, an injured worker was required to show that both jobs were performed at the same time during the 13 weeks prior to the work accident which caused the injury. An example of this would be someone who worked a full-time job during the week and worked a similar but different job on the weekends. This is no longer the case. Smith, Wallis, and Scott attorney, Joseph W. Brown, successfully argued in front of the Supreme Court of Georgia that any similar job performed during the 13 weeks should count as concurrent employment, even if the jobs were not performed at the same time. See Fulton County Bd. of Educ. v. Thomas, 299 Ga. 59 (2016). Because of Mr. Brown's hard work, it is now easier for injured workers to include lost wages from a 2nd job to increase the amount of their weekly TTD benefits in a workers' compensation claim.

Workplace injuries often lead to severe health problems that must be assessed via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) scans and, eventually, resolved through surgery. Unfortunately, the added expenses of these treatments leave employers reluctant to provide necessary coverage. The Georgia State Board of Workers' Compensation offers much-needed guidance for both employers and employees, as outlined below:

Surgery

There is no legal mandate requiring advance communication between medical professionals, workers' compensation administrators, and employees, but employers typically prefer to be notified before workers schedule major operations. Administrators can then work directly with injured workers and physicians to ensure proper arrangements are made.

In emergencies, employees should seek prompt care from the closest medical facility. Once out of immediate harm, they can visit a healthcare professional from the Posted Panel of Physicians. Employers are not responsible for any unauthorized treatments that occur following the emergency.

MRIs and CT Scans

Precertification is not required before scheduling an MRI or CT scan. However, contact the claims administrator first. If inappropriate delays occur before the test, the Employer may be penalized.

Covering the Cost of Travel

Sometimes, workers must travel out of their way to visit approved providers for surgery or necessary scans. This mileage may be covered, along with parking expenses and some meals. Requests for reimbursement should highlight when and where the Employee drove. This detailed information must be submitted within a year of the trip. If reimbursement is not provided within thirty days, the Employer may incur a significant penalty.

By following instructions and timelines provided by the Georgia State Board of Workers' Compensation, you can increase your chances of obtaining total compensation. Look to Smith, Wallis, and Scott, LLP, for counsel as you deal with surgery and other complications of workplace injuries.

When most people picture workplace injuries, they imagine injuries such as broken legs or torn ligaments. Far fewer give proper consideration to the equally painful injuries that appear after years of hard work. Cumulative trauma injuries, which are also referred to as repetitive motion injuries, deserve equal attention as they can cause considerable pain and inconvenience for hardworking employees, leaving them out of the workforce for years. Georgia's workers' compensation system addresses losses attributed to both sudden injuries and injuries that occur over time.

Maybe your back spasmed suddenly after an accident at work, or maybe years of repetitive lifting, twisting, bending, or sitting have finally caught up with you. In either case, you may qualify for workers' compensation in the state of Georgia.

Accidental Injuries

A workplace mishap—caused perhaps by carelessness, lack of signage, or a supervisor assigning you a task that you weren't physically strong enough to handle—suddenly and obviously debilitated you. For example, you slipped on a wet floor, or a heavy load fell as you lifted it. Injuries of this kind can cause back strain, muscle tears, or painful muscle spasms. Despite their excruciating nature, these injuries are often more straightforward than cumulative injuries because they can be traced back to a single incident.

A crisis that takes minutes or even seconds to unfold can have profound repercussions—and it's often hard to predict what will happen long term. For instance, a broken back—caused by a two-story fall off construction scaffolding—might heal in just a few months. A more minor-seeming problem, such as a slipped disk, can cause shooting pain that lasts for years because it's continually putting pressure on the nerves in your back. (Learn more about how to recognize a slipped disk here.)

Overuse Injuries

Any physical task–from lifting a heavy box to sitting all day at a desk–can cause back pain if you do it too much. Up to 90% of people experience back pain at some point. Most of these cases are due to overuse rather than a traumatic accident.

Repetitive work overloads specific muscles in the back, making it more difficult for them to recover from strain. This can exacerbate problems like arthritis, scoliosis, and osteoporosis, weakening your back and leaving it vulnerable to injury. Given time, overuse injuries can be just as painful as accidental injuries. (Learn how to prevent overuse injuries at work here.)

Injuries caused by workplace accidents and overuse can both qualify you for workers' compensation in Georgia. To learn more about your options, contact your experienced workers compensation lawyers in Carrollton, Georgia at Smith, Wallis, and Scott, LLP today.

Repetitive Stress Injuries

The repetitive nature of many positions leaves employees vulnerable to carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, and other cumulative trauma disorders. Repetitive motion injuries are particularly common among factory and office employees, which constitutes a growing segment of the American workforce. Research indicates that over sixty percent of workplace injuries can be classified as repetitive stress disorders (RSDs). Job duties that lead to these types of injuries include:

• Keyboard use
• Prolonged gripping of machinery
• Barcode standing in retail environments
• Assembly line work
• Driving
• Meatpacking

Establishing Work-Related Injuries

Unfortunately, because cumulative trauma injuries cannot be attributed to a single, verifiable incident, they are much more challenging to prove for compensation purposes. A physician approved by your Employer must provide written verification indicating that your Job either caused your chronic condition or worsened a preexisting condition. If your Employer's physician denies the existence of your chronic condition, you may seek an independent medical assessment. With strong legal advocacy, the Georgia State Board of Workers' Compensation can be convinced to accept independent assessments.

In addition to meeting with an employer-approved physician and an independent medical professional, keep detailed records of your condition and the suffering it causes, as well as your responsibilities in the workplace. Take note whenever your pain worsens. This information can help your attorney prove the link between your Job and your injury.