What Should I Expect at a Workers’ Compensation Mediation?
In North Carolina, if a party to a workers’ compensation case, such as an injured worker or an employer/insurance company, has requested a hearing in front of the North Carolina Industrial Commission by filing a Form 33, a mediation is required by state law. However, if an agreement or settlement is reached by all parties before the mediation, the mediation is not necessary. Sometimes, the parties agree to an informal mediation between themselves.
The purpose of the mediation is for the parties to come together, with the assistance of an approved mediator, and try to settle the matter without the cost and expense of a formal hearing in front of a deputy commissioner, who is similar to a judge.
Is Emotional Distress From Being Robbed On the Job Covered by Workers’ Compensation?
Emotional distress caused by being robbed on the job is covered under the Workers Compensation Act in North Carolina. Under North Carolina law, mental as well as physical injuries sustained on the job are a compensable injury. The “injured worked” must provided evidence, usually medical evidence, he or she is unable to work due to the traumatic psychological injuries they sustained during the robbery. However, the psychological injury sustained may not be permanent disability.
For example, the person may be robbed at a fast food restaurant late one night. This traumatic event may not preclude her from working in the future in a factory during the daytime. The environment in each of the jobs is completely different. The job in the factory does not have her working late at night with the chances of being robbed on the job again. However, having the worker go back to a job late at night in another restaurant could cause the psychological issues to resurface precluding the worker from maintaining a job.
The workers’ compensation insurance company will send the worker suffering from the post-traumatic stress disorder to a medical professional or psychologist to diagnose the worker. To receive compensation, the worker must have a diagnosis. The worker cannot just claim they have psychological injuries; a professional must substantiate the injury.
One major focus in post-traumatic stress disorder situations is whether other reasonable employment exists. If the worker could be trained (vocational rehabilitation) for another job in which they would not be under the psychological stress then workers’ compensation will not continue to pay indemnity benefits going forward.
What Is Discovery In A Lawsuit?
A lawsuit is crafted of several different stages. In the civil proceedings there are certain litigation paths that must be taken depending on the route of the case. Discovery is in the pre-trail phase of a lawsuit and acts as the parties’ opportunity to gather information.
Upon the commencement of a civil action by filing a civil summons, the defendant is allowed to file an answer to the complaint, either admitting or denying allegations.
In response to the answer, the plaintiff’s lawyers then put together written questions known as “interrogatories,” which usually mark the beginning of the discovery phase in litigation. These are a series of questions compiled by the plaintiff’s for the defendant to answer. However, the defendant may also serve a set of interrogatories on the plaintiff(s).
In addition to interrogatories, the parties may request depositions. A deposition is an examination of a party or witness in a lawsuit. A deposition allow for each side to gather further information and allows opposing counsel the opportunity to know what a witness or party to a case may say at trial by allowing them to question or depose them.
Another tool in the discovery process are the requests for admissions. These are used to determine which issues or facts in a case are really in contention. If a party is willing to admit to something then it is not something that needs to be argued during a potential trial. Requests for admissions are done in writing.
This is just a brief synopsis of the different parts of discovery in a lawsuit. The important thing to remember is discovery is meant to gather or discover information so there are fewer surprises if a case does find its way to court.
What are Requests for Admissions?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XWkQTbjLJ4[/youtube]
Requests for admissions occur during the discovery process within a lawsuit. When you are sued you are given a “complaint” which tells the court what the person(s)/company did legally wrong. Example: Sunny Side Up Nursing Home did not provide proper care to John Doe as required by the NC state guidelines for standard care. The court requires a legal answer (No, we, Sunny Side Up Nursing Home, provided proper care to John Doe as required by the NC state guidelines for standard care). Answers are always legally binding, and must be filed with the court during the allotted timeframe.
The complaint starts the discovery process in which the court wants to find “facts” regarding the case. The plaintiff’s attorney, the plaintiff is the person(s)/company who files the lawsuit, will send out interrogatories (questions) in which the defendant is required to answer (responses on whether or not the allegations are true). Once you respond with your answers, you must file them with the court for them to be valid. .
Requests for admissions are statements of facts sent to one of the parties of the lawsuit. It is a part of the legal discovery process. The responding party must either admit or deny the alleged facts sent in the request for admissions. If the responding party does not deny the alleged facts, they are deemed to be admitted after a certain amount of time and are considered a legal fact in the court proceedings.
Request for admissions are often seen in a wide array of legal cases. Whether it is in bankruptcy litigation, workers’ compensation litigation or any other type of civil litigation, request for admissions are a tool used to obtain more information and determine what facts are truly in dispute in a case. If all of the parties to a case can agree certain facts and contentions are true – then it ensures more efficient litigation.
All law can be confusing at times, especially in lawsuits where you have two entities/person(s) involved in a lawsuit. It is imperative that you seek proper legal advice from your attorney.
Is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Covered by Workers’ Compensation?
Yes! Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is considered an occupational disease which is covered under the North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Act.The North Carolina Supreme Court has required three elements in order to prove that a injury is an “occupational disease” including PTSD. They are as follows:
(1) The disease must be characteristic of and peculiar to the claimant’s particular trade, occupation or employment;
(2) the disease must not be an ordinary disease of life to which the public is equally exposed outside of the employment; and
(3) there must be proof of causation (proof of a causal connection between the disease and the employment). However, the worker must prove that the mental illness or injury was due to stresses or conditions different from those borne by the general public.
A good example of a post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) claim is as follows. A worker at a factory is working beside their co-worker. An explosion takes place in the factory. A sheet of metal is torn from the ceiling by the explosion and is hurled through the air striking the co-worker in the neck, decapitating the co-worker. The worker watches the head of the co-worker fall to the floor, killing the co-worker. The worker is now terrified from PTSD any time she is in a factory with other co-workers and hears any loud noise similar to an explosion. This psychological trauma has been verified and diagnosed by competent physicians. We would all agree this meets the criteria for PTSD.
Another example of PTSD in the work setting is a bank tellar who is held at gunpoint during a bank robbery and now suffers from PTSD due to her fear of being robbed and held at gunpoint again.
To qualify for workers’ compensation benefits for a post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) claim the “three elements” listed earlier must be met. In this event, a worker should be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits in North Carolina.
Can I Recover Workers’ Comp Benefits if I Had a Heart Attack at Work?
Like many areas in the law, it depends. If the heart attack occurred during your normal work activities, usually the heart attack injury is not compensable under North Carolina workers’ compensation laws. For the injury to be compensable, the worker must show the heart attack was caused by some unusual or unexpected event and was in the course and scope of employment.
A good example would be an administrative assistant, who had a “desk job,” was on the first floor of a fifteen-story building. Due to a power outage, the elevators were temporarily not working. The worker’s supervisor told the worker to quickly go to the twelfth floor, via the stairs, to pick up some important documents. As the worker was going up the stairs she began to breath hard and over exerted herself. As the worker reached the tenth floor, she began to have chest pain and suffered a heart attack. This is a compensable act because this was not the normal routine of the administrative assistant to run up twelve flights of stairs. Her normal job was to have a sedimentary job at her desk. She suffered a heart attack due to this “unusual event” of her running up ten flights of stairs. This injury should be covered under the workers compensation laws.
What if the employer knew the administrative assistant had a preexisting heart condition? This would be irrelevant. The heart attack would still be compensable because the employer “takes the employee as they find them.”
What if a convenience store employee had a heart attack as an armed robber came into the store with a shotgun and pointed the shotgun at the clerk? This would probably be compensable injury because it is not the “normal duties” of a convenience store clerk to have a shotgun pointed at them.
What if a store clerk was checking out a customer and the clerk had a heart attack? Would this be compensable under the workers compensation laws? Probably not, because the clerk was doing his “normal and customary duties ” when he suffered the heart attack. Nothing out of the ordinary caused the clerk to have the heart attack.
The bottom line is, there must be some act or accident outside of the normal course of employment that caused the heart attack. There must be a causal connection between this act and the resulting heart attack. If you are looking for a Charlotte workers’ compensation attorney or Greensboro workers’ compensation lawyer be sure to contact us today.
If I Become Depressed Due To An Incident on the Job Can I Collect Workers’ Compensation Benefits?
Depression caused by an accident or incident on the job is usually compensable. However, there must be a medical doctor or a licensed psychologist opinion that the depression was caused by the incident or accident. You cannot claim you feel depressed without a professional opinion substantiating the claim of clinical depression.
For example, a new healthcare worker was asked to assist rescue workers with the recovery of bodies of a major airplane crash. Several children on the plane were killed and their bodies were badly damaged. The healthcare worker had children the same age as some of the plane crash victims. The healthcare worker was severely depressed after the incident and needed psychological counseling. This type of treatment is usually compensable.
If an employee was injured on the job and lost an arm, this, too, would cause depression for most persons. The counseling needed by this person is usually compensable as part of their medical expenses.
Again the key factors are the depression must be work related and there must be a professional clinical diagnosis of depression. This depression must be related to and caused by the employment of the person (employee).
If you think you may be suffering from depression from an incident that occurred while you were working, you should speak first with a health care professional. After you have received proper care, you should then speak with a workers’ compensation attorney to determine if the depression may be compensable under workers’ compensation laws.
Can I Collect Workers’ Compensation If I Get Injured In the Parking Lot Of My Employer?
Generally speaking, it may be difficult to receive a workers’ compensation benefits if you are injured in your employer’s parking lot. However, there are some exceptions. There are several conditions that must be met for you to receive workers’ compensation benefits for an injury that occurred in your employer’s parking lot.
If you are injured during the course and scope of your employment, in other words, if you are doing your job and are injured in the parking lot of your employer or any parking lot, the injury is compensable. This may be true even as you are walking from your car to the building or from the building to your car. The key factor here is the wording “during the course and scope of your employment.”
Second, normally the parking lot must be owned, possessed, or controlled by the employer. If this is not the case, and you were not performing your job, the injury is usually not compensable. What if you were across the street in an adjacent parking lot which was not controlled by your employer immediately before work? You slipped and fell on the adjacent parking lot before you entered the premises of your employer. This injury is usually not compensable.
The term “during the course and scope of employment” is essential in receiving workers’ compensation benefits. This is true even if an accident occurred in the parking lot of your employer.
For example, on your day off you bring your friends to your employer’s ice covered parking lot. You decide to show them your potential Olympic ice skating skills. You slip on the ice and break your leg. Is this a compensable injury? Probably not. Why not? Because you were not performing your job. It was your day off and the ice skating skills you were showing your friends had nothing to do with your job duties. The injury was not in the course and scope of your employment, even though it happened on your employer’s parking lot.
However, if your employer told you (as part of your job duties) to take some potential customers to the parking lot and impress them with your skating skills as a marketing gimmick for the employer, the injury would probably be compensable.
If you believe you have suffered an injury in the parking lot of your place of employment that you should be able to recover for under workers’ compensation, contact an attorney immediately to discuss the specifics of your case.
