Massachusetts Workers Compensation Lawyers Blog

There is no need to prove any fault on behalf of an employer to collect workers’ compensation in Boston, and it would not matter if there was fault on the part of the employer.  The system was set up to be no-fault.  All that is necessary is to establish  that claimant was injured on the job and claimant was an employee at the time of the workplace accident.

An employee in Boston workers’ compensation cases

In the Massachusetts workers’ compensation act there is a definitions sections as there is with most other chapters in the Massachusetts General Laws (MGL).  In Chapter 152, Section 1, we find this definitions section. Pursuant to section 1, an employee is generally defined as a person who is hired under a contract to perform services for another. There are various exceptions such as taxi cab drivers, but for the most part, this issues involves whether injured worker is a contractor or an employee. Continue reading

In a typical workers’ compensation case in Boston, claimant is working and gets injured.  Once claimant is injured, he or she should immediately inform a supervisor of the workplace accident.  This is essential because if the supervisor doesn’t report the accident there will be no record of claimant being injured. When claimant applies for workers’ compensation benefits, employer’s workers’ compensation insurance company may deny the claim for not being put on notice.

Pursuant to Chapter 152 of the Massachusetts General Laws, workers’ compensation insurance company has between 15 and 30 days to either pay benefits for lost wages and medical bills or to deny the claim.  If a claim is denied, claimant must file an appeal with the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents (DIA).  Continue reading

Bone injuries that occur while on the job can lead to a considerable amount of time out of work, as well as some complex litigation in a Boston workers’ compensation case.

Common types of bone injuries include:

• Stable fracture
• Open/ compound fracture
• Transverse fracture
• Oblique fracture
• Comminuted fracture

In workers’ compensation cases, the most common causes of bone fractures are trauma and overuse.

The fact that doctors have the ability to make such a precise diagnosis is good news for their patients in terms of eventually healing and getting back to work. However, workers’ compensation insurance companies are often not on the same page.

Independent Medical Exams

In many workers’ compensation cases, claimant will be treated by his or her doctors and then those records are sent to the insurance company.  Insurer will review these records and then probably send one of their own doctors from company’s list of preferred physicians. Although this doctor is referred to as an “independent examiner,” he or she is paid by the insurer to review the medical records, and in many cases, perform his or her own quick examination on the claimant. Continue reading

In most injuries that happen to employees on the job in Boston, the worker will miss some time at work, receive medical treatment and then return to work.  However, there are some cases of on-the-job injuries where the claimant suffers a permanent loss of function to a particular body part, organ, or sense.

In some cases, the loss of function will fall under a category known as “Specific Injuries,” as defined in Chapter 152, Section 36 of the Massachusetts General Laws (MGL) , which is the workers’ compensation act for the Commonwealth.  Continue reading

Electrical General Corp. v LaBonte

In a recent case from the Maryland Court of Appeals, which is the state supreme court for that jurisdiction, a claimant was originally injured while he was at work for his employer.  The accident occurred when he caught a ladder that was falling. He caught the ladder to prevent it from injuring him or his co-workers and pushed it back up against a wall to keep if from falling.

This ladder was 40 feet in length and weighed over 300 pounds.  For this reason, when he saw it falling and was about to land on people, he did what he could to prevent that, but we are talking about a considerable amount of weight at very awkward angle. When he managed to stop the ladder from falling, he testified that he could feel a shift in his back, which then turned in to considerable and constant back pain.  He switched to a light duty position at the company, and then, when things did not get better, he had surgery on his back. Continue reading