Your Workplace Accident Attorney Is a Click Away!

Have you experienced an on-the-job injury? Are you looking for a workers' compensation attorney? If you have been injured in an accident at your workplace, you may be entitled to workers' compensation benefits for your injuries. You need tough, experienced legal representation.

Workers’ compensation is a kind of insurance paid for by your employer.  By law, all employers must have some kind of workers’ compensation protection for their employees.  If you need to claim Workers’ Compensation benefits, your bills are paid by an insurance company, not directly by your employer.

An injured worker does not have to prove that their employer was at fault for the accident, only that they were on-the-job when injured. For a construction worker, this can mean an injury on the jobsite or even outside the jobsite if, for example, a supervisor sent the a laborer to pick up lunch for the crew.  I have represented home health aides who suffered back injuries while moving a patient in the home, or while walking to the grocery store or pharmacy for the patient when struck by a car – a work-related errand outside the patient’s home but still in the “course of employment” and covered by Workers’ Compensation.  

Employees may get the “run around” when trying to get Workers’ Compensation benefits.  You may need legal help if you can still work part-time but are entitled to some Workers’ Compensation benefits, or change jobs, move to another state, or retire.  In the case of a permanent injury, you maybe entitled to a “schedule loss” award.

When you have had a construction accident or a work accident and need a workers' compensation attorney, we can help! At the Law Offices of Gary E. Rosenberg, P.C., we help employees with work-related personal injuries. Your employer need not have been negligent or at fault for you to collect Workers' Compensation benefits. However, the injury or illness has to occur in the course of employment for an injured worker to be eligible for Workers' Compensation benefits.

Workers’ Compensation Overview

The first thing you must do if injured on the job is report the accident to your supervisor, who should make a report. If you’re able, get the names and telephone numbers of witnesses.  Take photographs of the scene of the accident or, if your unable, ask a co-worker to shoot photos – even if it’s just with a cell phone.

Get to a doctor or hospital; when they ask you about insurance for the hospital or medical visit, tell them you were hurt while working.

While Workers’ Compensation benefits are designed to help those hurt while working, the payments may not be high enough to give full compensation to the injured worker. Therefore, it’s important to know that if you are hurt through someone else’s fault while working – like in my example above about the home care attendant hit by an automobile while going on an errand to the store for his or her patient – you can collect Workers’ Compensation benefits and bring a lawsuit against the person that injured you.  In some cases the Workers’ Compensation insurance company can get some of its money back, so it’s important to have an attorney that understands how Workers’ Compensation law works with New York State negligence and accident law.

Although workers' compensation benefits aide employees while injured on the job, they are usually not sufficient to fully compensate injured workers for all damages sustained as a result of their work-related accident.

Some more tips:

• Make sure your doctors fill out the medical forms completely to avoid having your claim delayed because a doctor forgot to check a box or answer an easy question.


• Your medical reports should state that the injury is employment-related (if it is), diagnosis of your condition or injury, recommended treatment, whether you’re fully or partially disabled and, if partially disabled, what your work limitations are.


• If your doctor offers unnecessary treatment or tries to bill for treatment not given or extra office visits you did not attend, change doctors right away, because you may be accused of participating in a fraud.  You should tell your lawyer immediately and your lawyer should tell the Workers’ Compensation insurance carrier.  A “dirty doctor,” when caught, can destroy your case.

Injury Prevention at Work

Slips and trips are the main cause of work-related injuries.  According to the National Safety Council, there are more than 100,000 injuries each year to the feet and toes of United States workers, representing 19% of all disabling work injuries. Wearing the correct shoes can play a large part in better work place safety.

Construction workers usually require safety shoes. Some of the trades that should pay special attention to footwear to avoid a construction accident and injury are:

• carpenters;   


• maintenance mechanics;


• plumbers;


• grounds workers operating heavy equipment;


• welders;


• power plant maintenance workers.

Proper footwear can also protect against a broken bone in the foot or ankle or other injuries.  On snowy, icy and rainy days wear boots to work and change to “indoor shoes” after arriving.

Three types of foot protection should be considered in work shoes:

• The bottom of the shoes should be slip-resistant.


• The toe of the shoe should be reinforced to protect from a crush accident.


• The shoe should support the ankle.

Good maintenance and housekeeping is the most important way to prevent workplace injuries. It includes:

1. cleaning spills immediately,


2. marking spills and wet areas with signs, caution tape or cones,


3. removing debris from floors,


4. keeping walkways and aisles free of clutter,


5. securing (tacking, taping, etc.) mats, rugs and carpets that do not lay flat,


6. closing file cabinet or storage drawers,


7. covering cables that cross walkways,


8. keeping working areas and walkways well lit.

Our law firm is headquartered in Forest Hills, New York, and we serve work accident or construction accident victims in the greater New York metropolitan area. We will also prosecute on-the-job injury cases in all five boroughs, plus Long Island (Nassau/Suffolk) and Westchester. Workers' compensation insurance will typically pay your medical and rehabilitation expenses and a portion of your lost wages while you're unable to work.

For your serious personal injury, you need legal representation from a qualified personal injury attorney.  Contact us for your free consultation.

Law Offices of Gary E. Rosenberg, P.C.

(718) 520-8787