North Carolina Workers' Compensation Lawyer Blog

In the struggle to collect North Carolina workers’ compensation benefits for injuries at work, occupational diseases, and repetitive stress injuries, employees often lose sight of their ultimate aim, which is to restore their health and get back to work as quickly as possible.

After all, workers’ comp aims to empower hurt employees to return to a life of productivity, happiness, and health. And while it’s certainly important (and often necessary) to understand how to fight battles against bad faith insurance companies and employers that unfairly refuse to discuss your North Carolina workers compensation claim – it’s equally crucial to explore methods to speed up and augment recovery from illnesses and injuries.

This post will address some “secret” ways to improve rehabilitation:

1. Watch Your Diet

The ingestion of processed vegetable oils, trans fats, refined carbohydrates, and refined sugars has all been associated with aging, obesity, Type-2 diabetes, and immune system problems. By avoiding these foods and instead eating healthy protein and fats and fresh fruits and vegetables, you may be able to improve your body’s capacity to heal itself.

2. Improve Your Muscular Strength

In the wake of a debilitating injury, you may not have much time, energy, or motivation to hit the gym or even do basic physical activity. But the cultivation of muscular strength is essential for rehabilitation for many injuries – particularly injuries like sprains and soft tissue damage. Of course, always consult your physician and work with a professional physical therapist to make sure you don’t hurt yourself as you build your strength back.

3. Stress reduction

When you go through periods of excessive stress, your body produces the hormone cortisol. A little cortisol is okay, but so called “hypercortisolemia” – the over-production of cortisol – can cause a wide range of problems, including damage to your immune system. So try to fight back against stress by getting enough sleep, engaging in recreational activities, doing meditation and relaxation exercises, and spending time around people you love.

4. Rest

If you are a workaholic by nature, you may find it very difficult to stunt your urge to “get back out there” as soon as possible. To ensure your fastest recovery, ironically, you need to make sure that you don’t take on too much too soon.

If you need help responding to an urgent North Carolina workers’ compensation matter, a quality and experienced law firm can help you explore your rights and make sure that you don’t make any significant mistakes that would hamper your claim or delay your benefits.

More Web Resources

The Case against Sugar (Robert Lustig lecture)

The Case for Muscular Strength

The last thing most employees want to do is have to go on North Carolina workers’ compensation. No one wants to be injured. Few enjoy the hassle of filing claims and dealing with less than cooperative insurance companies and employers. Some on the job accidents and illnesses are unavoidable. For instance, say your delivery van gets sideswiped by a semi-truck, and the resulting accident gives you serious whiplash. There is no way you could possibly anticipate that kind of accident. But other at-work accidents can be more easily avoided:

1. Typing Injuries

Warning Signs: You feel numbness and tingling in your fingers, your arms ache or throb at the end of the day, you notice that you are adopting “crutches” such as typing with your non-dominant hand or intentionally “slacking off” so that you don’t have to type as much.

Solution: Talk to your employer about a better ergonomic set-up. Improve your posture and muscular conditioning. Take frequent breaks. See a physical therapist to treat your “trigger points” with modalities like acupuncture, massage, and microstretching.

2. Slip and Falls Waiting to Happen

Warning Signs: “Near misses” in which you and or other employees “almost” get into serious injuries, jokes around the office that a piece of equipment is an “accident waiting to happen” or a “fire trap.”

Solution: As quickly as possible, bring the problem to the attention of your boss and/or manager. Document any or all attempts you make to get the problems fixed. If your immediate manager won’t help, consider going up the chain of command to complain.

3. Exposure to Chronic Toxins

Warning Signs: If you work with chemicals, and you come home with a headache or being unable to breathe; if you notice that you are getting a rash or other allergic reaction to chemicals, glass, plastics, or other materials used at your work; if you get dizzy or feel sick at work when you use a certain piece of equipment or a certain kind of chemical or material.

Solution: Report the problem to your manager as soon as possible. You might be able to solve this by wearing better safety equipment, such as a ventilator or mask. Alternatively, you may need to stop using whatever product or material is causing the allergic or toxic reaction.

If it’s too late – and you’ve already been injured or gotten an occupational disease – and you need assistance with a North Carolina workers’ compensation issue, it behooves you to consult with an experienced law firm that specializes in North Carolina workers’ compensation. The faster you get professional legal assistance, the easier it will likely be to start collecting benefits.

More Web Resources

All about trigger points

Common Workplace Toxins

North Carolina workers’ compensation experts have been following a bizarre breaking story out of Chenango County, NY.

According to the Associated Press, a 53-year-old New York woman named Susan Tansosch has been ordered to pay over $60,000 in restitution to the United States Postal Service for workers’ comp fraud, pursuant to charges that she falsely claimed that she had no additional income streams – when she had been making significant money selling goats.

Last Wednesday, Judge Thomas McAvoy sentenced Tansosch to four years probation and forced restitution to the USPS for making untrue statements to collect workers’ comp benefits from the federal government. The Department of Labor abruptly ended Tansosch’s benefits – all because she sold goats on the side.

This story drives home a point that many North Carolina workers’ compensation claimants often forget. Namely, that you need to read and understand the fine print of your benefits arrangement. If you fail to abide by the terms stipulated, you could wind up in court, in trouble, and in debt to the agency or insurer that provided the benefits to you.

There is no way to tell from this AP story whether or not Ms. Tansosch knew that selling goats would violate her workers’ comp arrangement. But don’t think that, just because you settle your North Carolina workers’ compensation case, that the situation will be permanently resolved. Insurance carriers are businesses. They investigate claims -- even after they have settled! -- to make sure that claimants are/were telling the truth about their injuries.

Managing the legal complications of a debate over your benefits can be a draining chore – one that you likely do not have the training to handle adroitly. That’s why, even if your case is relatively simple-seeming now, you might benefit from a consultation with a reputable and proven North Carolina workers’ compensation law firm. As the old adage goes, an ounce of prevention is equal to a pound of cure. Smart planning can mean the world for your workers’ comp case.

More Web Resources

NY goat-seller must pay back workers' comp

Woman sentenced after conviction

Whether you work at a potentially dangerous job, such as a construction site, welding factory, or farm; or you face dangers due to occupational diseases and/or repetitive stress injuries at a white collar job, you don’t want to have to go on North Carolina workers’ compensation, if you can help it. Ideally, you want to work pain-free and accident-free. So here are a few tips to help you stay safe at work:

1. Take Breaks, Particularly When You Engage in Repetitive Work

Whether you are doing data entry, computer programming, sewing, or hair styling, or any other kind of repetitive work, ergonomic professionals will urge you to take regular breaks to avoid injuries to your hands, arms, shoulders, and back. Repetitive stress injuries typically result from long-term abuse of muscles, bad posture, and “Type A” enthusiastic work habits. This may sound silly, but one thing you can do is – every 30 minutes or so, or whatever your employer will allow – take two to three minutes to lie down on the ground and let your spine and back relax before you start doing your repetitive activity.

2. Cut Back on Sugar and Processed Foods

More and more studies have linked excess sugar and high fructose corn syrup consumption with diseases like obesity and type 2 diabetes. Although these aren’t occupational diseases, when you get obese and pre-diabetic, you stand at a much greater risk of injury. And some evidence also suggests that excess sugar consumption can decrease your stamina, make you tired, and damage muscle and organ health – which will put you at greater risk of on-the-job injury.

3. Increase Your Strength

Strength training helps with muscular flexibility, improves bone density, leads to innumerable other health benefits, according to abundant medical literature. Many employees neglect effective strength training. But as we age, we will see a natural deterioration of our muscular strength (particularly in places like our lower backs) unless we actively work to improve strength in those areas.

4. Don’t Wait Until a Problem Gets “Too Big”

If you feel like you are getting hurt or you could potentially get hurt at work, tell your employer at once. Don’t keep your concerns to yourself. Your employer can and should want to help you solve the problem. For instance, say you type at an ergonomically dysfunctional workstation. Tell your boss, so he or she can help you solve your ergonomic problems and thus help you prevent injury. Speak up!

Do you need help with a North Carolina workers’ compensation benefits case? Don’t let bad faith insurers, uncooperative bosses, or confusion beat you down – get help from a qualified and well-credentialed NC workers’ comp law firm today.

More Web Resources

Sugar and Obesity and Diabetes

Learn to Take Breaks at Work

Gabe Reid, a former tight end for the Chicago Bears, got an award of $325,000 for a knee injury from the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission this week. North Carolina workers’ compensation experts have been closely following NFL related workers’ comp cases like Reid’s – this blog reported last month about California’s dilemma over how and whether to compensate injured athletes who played for teams outside of California but who got hurt in games played in the Golden State.

Reid played for the Bears from 2003 to 2006. The team released him in 2006 to be an unrestricted free agent. His settlement was the biggest settlement for a pro athlete in Illinois history; although another ex-Bear, Mike Brown, recently collected $140,000 for injuries he suffered to his foot and leg while he played for the Bears. More ex-Bears may be eligible to collect additional funds, according to state sports reporters.

How will Reid’s settlement impact similar North Carolina workers’ compensation cases, if at all? Will ex-Panthers be eligible for similarly large payouts? Truth be told, the states individually are in the process of working out how to compensate NFL athletes (and athletes in other sports). And it will likely be several years before policy analysts have enough data to draw any clear conclusions. However, with all the financial pressure on state workers’ compensation agencies to tighten their budgets – and the new POWER initiative launched by the Obama administration, which this blog reported on earlier in the week – it may be more difficult for claimants to win relevant arguments.

Irrespective of what happens to ex-NFLers like Reid and Brown, what can you personally do to improve the likelihood of collecting fair and flexible benefits for your injury or workplace illness?

If you suffered a chronic, debilitating injury at work such as a knee problem or typing injury – or if you got hurt in some kind of acute accident – such as a slip and fall or work-related car accident – you must simultaneously struggle under a number of burdens. First, you must deal with the medical recuperation, which can be exhausting and emotionally draining in and of itself. Then, you need to figure out how to rehabilitate yourself and get back to work in some fashion ASAP – and/or how to deal with your financial situation. And lastly, under certain circumstances, you might have to fight back against unwilling employers, recalcitrant insurance companies, and bureaucratic red tape to get benefits paid out in a timely fashion.

With all these stresses on your shoulders, it may behoove you to discuss your problems with a qualified North Carolina workers’ compensation attorney. A good lawyer can simplify your strategy, relieve you of logistical and emotional stresses, and help you collect appropriate payments without hassle or frustration.

More Web Resources:

Gabe Reid case

Mike Brown case

Breaking news in a key North Carolina workers compensation case: The North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld an award in the case of Hatley v. Continental General Tire, stipulating that the claimant (Hatley) was entitled to temporary total disability benefits pursuant to an injury he suffered while repairing a tire.

Background

Hatley was a tire inspector who hurt his hand during a blowout accident at work. After he got treated, his physician put him on light duty restriction. Following this rest, he tried to go back to work but found that he could not perform his duties because of continued problems with his injured hand. His employer told him that he had to continue working or retire. The inspector chose to retire and take a new position as a teacher’s assistant, six months after the fact. His employer sought to get out of paying for disability claims; he alleged that not all of Hatley’s symptoms could be traced back to the at-work accident. (Pursuant to the North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Act, an injured worker must be able to show that a workplace injury caused a disability that resulted in impairment.)

The employer’s argument fell short, according to the Court of Appeals, because no doctor testified precisely how much of the injury resulted from work place trauma and how much resulted from other factors. Without good medical testimony to this point, the Court concluded that “any attempt to apportion plaintiff’s injury would have been speculative and improper.”

Although the plaintiff in this case managed to hold on to his temporary total disability benefits, many other workers with legitimate claims are not so lucky. They can find their benefits retroactively stripped from them. If you have questions or concerns about how to handle a difficult employer or a non-cooperative insurance company, it’s probably in your best interest to discuss your case in confidence with an experienced North Carolina workers’ compensation attorney.

More Web Resources:

Hatley v. Continental General Tire

The North Carolina Court of Appeals

Most North Carolina workers’ compensation matters that this blog covers are local or national. But today we turn our attention to a fascinating case out of Australia involving a pilot for the airline Qantas. This story’s applicability to North Carolina workers’ compensation concerns may be somewhat indirect, but it’s a gripping one, so we had to include it!

Background

A pilot named Bryan Arthur Griffin flew for Qantas in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. During that time, he developed a mental illness related to obsessive compulsion and anxiety. Mr. Griffin felt a tremendous urge to crash the airplanes he was flying. He heard a voice inside of him telling him to turn off the engines, to cry and scream, to intentionally ignore crew instructions, and so forth. On one flight to Singapore, he developed an urge to crash the plane that was so strong that he had to physically immobilize his arm to avoid killing a whole plane full of people.

Throughout his ordeal, Mr. Griffin was repeatedly looked at by doctors and evaluated by Qantas. Amazingly, the doctors and the airline allowed him to continue to fly for over three years. Not only did allowing Mr. Griffin to fly potentially endanger passengers and crew, but doing so also caused health problems for Mr. Griffin, who became more anxious, depressed, and compulsive as his stint as a pilot wore on.

Eventually, an Australian Commissioner in charge of adjudicating workers’ compensation matters won a judgment for Mr. Griffin for $160,000 for all of his pain, anxiety, and compulsive problems. Qantas also had to pay for his legal and medical fees.

Have you or a family member ever been forced to work at a job that’s caused you anxiety, depression, or compulsion? Your on-the-job injuries and occupational diseases may be covered by North Carolina workers’ compensation.

Take the first step to filing a claim today by connecting with a reputable North Carolina workers’ compensation attorney for a confidential and free consultation. Understand your rights – and your employer’s responsibilities – so you don’t endanger yourself or others at work.

More Web Resources:

Qantas

Bryan Arthur Griffin

Elevated North Carolina Workers’ Compensation costs concern everyone in the “employment ecosystem” - small business owners, employees, government agencies, insurance companies, and physicians alike. To bring down costs across the board, however, requires a holistic approach to problem solving. In this article, we will speculate about remedies that could be applied throughout this “ecosystem” - at little to no cost to employers, insurers, or employees.

1. Put in place systematic solutions to common workplace ergonomic problems.
How many North Carolina workers’ compensation cases begin at the keyboard? Carpel tunnel syndrome, repetitive stress injuries, and other soft tissue injuries abound in North Carolina - many of them no doubt due to bad workstation ergonomics. An employer can mitigate against risk of repetitive stress injuries by investing in more economic keyboards, for instance, more tailored workstations, and a program of regular breaks and stressing. The cost of such a proactive “war” against repetitive stress injuries would be minimal, and the benefits would no doubt be long lasting. Workers who are not exhausted from keyboarding and other repetitive tasks can work longer hours (thus making up any theoretical costs of ergonomic modifications). Fewer injuries would mean lower North Carolina Workers’ Compensation insurance premiums.

2. Better Alert and Response System to Control North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Fraud.
As the old saying goes, a few bad apples can spoil the bunch. Everyone loses when people cheat the system. But how do you get people the stop cheating? This is the $64,000 question. Better monitoring of claims might be a theoretically good solution, but when you incentivize insurance companies to look for fraud, these companies inevitably will turn up “false positives.” I.e., they will harass people who are legitimately injured - trying to get them to admit that they are not actually hurt. This is obviously terrible, and it results in many tragedies, some of which we have reported on this blog.

A better solution might be to build in a more robust tracking system to make sure that claimants stay honest. In addition, insurance companies and employers must recognize and respect the claimants who are actually hurt and go the extra mile to help them.

3. Involve physicians in more holistic patient care.
The fractured approach to patient healthcare no doubt exacerbates many medical problems. If a patient sees four doctors, chances are that each physician will require separate paperwork, and that the doctors will not communicate with one another about the patient. This needs to change. Implement across the board holistic treatment for injured patients, and we will see much better health care. This is obviously an enormous task. But if we really want to bring down North Carolina Workers’ Compensation costs, we need to start treating patients as whole people -- and not just as carriers of individual symptoms they present with.

4. Better, more thorough and more regular data analysis of North Carolina Workers’ Compensation cases.

Organizations like the North Carolina Industrial Commission (NCIC) and other government agencies do track serious injuries and deaths at NC workplaces. But the amount of data that’s mined and shared about these accidents is extremely small, maybe even negligible, compared with what could be mined. We need to gather much more information - much more detailed analyses of various injuries and incidents. We must be able to share that information not only with government agencies, insurance companies, and fellow employers, but also with employees.
Do this kind of analysis, and we will no doubt be amazed at the kind of improvisations and “band-aid” solutions that emerge.

If you or somebody you love has been hurt or needs help with North Carolina Workers’ Compensation issues, connect with a qualified veteran attorney near you for a confidential consultation.

Each year, millions of dollars are spent on North Carolina workers’ compensation benefits and other sundry costs. With the state struggling with epic unemployment and other economic problems, policymakers across the political spectrum are seeking solutions. So here are ten ideas to take some of the financial pressure off of the North Carolina workers’ compensation system.

1. Improve office workstations and ergonomic tools.

As we’ve discussed in other posts on this blog, musculoskeletal disorders impact a significant percentage of the North Carolina workforce. To protect that workforce, we need to employ more proactive healthcare. In particular, we need to improve ergonomics for office workers, educate people about the risks of repetitive stress injuries, and intervene earlier in the injury process to prevent disorders that can result from untreated RSI.

2. Help the state workforce become more fit.

Exercise techniques and classes can protect workers from getting injured in the first place. For example, a recent study on the Alexander Technique (AT) in the UK found that just over a dozen sessions of AT helped workers recover from repetitive stress injuries and avoid costly surgeries and medications. Yoga and Feldenkrais have also anecdotally delivered great results for workers in a variety of fields.

3. Stricter enforcement of anti cell-phone-while-driving laws.

The research about the dangers of driving while texting is unambiguous. Cell phones and driving do not mix. Even if you wear a hands-free earpiece while talking on the phone, you will still significantly increase your risk of getting into an injury crash. Unfortunately, many North Carolinians do not know enough about these dangers -- for instance, many assume that talking hands-free is just fine. As a result, we are seeing more cell phone related injury crashes. If the state police can perform a better crackdown against drivers who violate anti cell phone laws; and if we can collectively educate our drivers about these dangers, perhaps we can see a reduction in injury crashes and thus relieve some pressure on the North Carolina workers’ compensation system.

4. Eliminate other distractions at work.

Today, it’s not unusual to find employees “multitasking” most hours of the day. Workers now spend a staggering amount of time staring at what the satirical newspaper The Onion has referred to as “glowing rectangles” -- e.g. computer screens, mobile phone devices, television sets, billboards, etc. This constant distraction leads to inattention and increases risk of injury.

5. Consume less sugar.

Many independent studies have demonstrated that the overconsumption of sugar can cause inflammation, arthritis, fatigue, inattention, and a battery of other health problems. By collectively reducing the amount of refined sugars that we eat -- particularly around holiday time -- we might be able to stave off not just some on-the-job injuries but also serious health problems, such as obesity and diabetes.

More Web Resources:

Dangers of Sugar

Help for RSI

North Carolina workers’ compensation policy wonks generally spend the lion’s share of their time doing things like analyzing insurance tables, parsing changes to state regulations, and tracking growth trends in state-specific industries. However, abundant research suggests that policymakers might want to focus more attention on simple workstation ergonomics.

Consider that a British research company (The Work Foundation) recently found that 100 million Europeans endure serious musculoskeletal problems every year, and that these problems eat up around two percent of the entire EU GDP -- a staggering $400 billion. There's no reason to doubt that work-related musculoskeletal injuries enact a similarly devastating toll on workers here in the United States and in North Carolina.

To that end, it seems that fixing whatever is causing these musculoskeletal problems should be a top priority for our policymakers. The question is: how? One theory is that many -- if not the majority -- of North Carolina workers’ compensation cases stem from chronic damage caused by overuse of certain muscle groups and poor ergonomics. For instance, a stenographer who spends ten hours a day typing up court transcripts can seriously hurt himself if he doesn’t employ excellent technique, take frequent breaks, and use well-designed equipment.

Repetitive stress injuries and other chronic musculoskeletal problems can occur in practically any industry -- they are not specific to traditional office work. A painter, for instance, can develop adhesions in her shoulder from doing repetitive brush stroking day in and day out. A truck driver can develop sciatica and lower back strains from sitting in a cab for eight to ten hours a day. Even professional athletes can get quite hurt from doing repetitive actions, even actions not normally associated with acute dangers. Indeed, any job that requires that you bend, lift, type, walk, stand, sit, or talk for extended periods without appropriate rest and ergonomic support can create the conditions for injury.

What's baffling is that simple and cheap ergonomic solutions to many chronic overuse problems abound. The installation of more ergonomic workstations across North Carolina, for instance, might be very useful at cutting down the rate of typing injuries. The installation of lumbar supports in truck cabs should be useful at reducing sciatica and lower back pain and so forth.

To summarize, North Carolina workers’ compensation policymakers should analyze simple, cost effective, and easily instituted ergonomic fixes post haste. This should not only lead to happier and healthier workers but also to a reduced number of claims, and thus to many other indirect benefits to employers and to the state as a whole.

More Web Resources:

The Work Foundation

Sorehand

Whether you got hurt at a processing plant or developed carpal tunnel syndrome while working as an executive for one of the big banks of the Research Triangle, you may need significant North Carolina workers' compensation benefits to pay for medical care and support your budget while you recuperate. Unfortunately, a fair number of claims get denied every year because applicants don’t take the time to learn about best practices for filing. Here are some common mistakes that claimants make – along with suggestions for how to avoid these problems:

1. Waiting too long between the time of the injury/ incident and the time that you file a claim – Wait two or three months between getting hurt at work and reporting the accident, and not only might your employer be less sympathetic, but you also may lose some legal leverage. The longer you wait before investigating North Carolina workers' comp, the harder it will be to collect evidence and statements to support your claim.

2. Saying the wrong things to your employer / and or insurance company representative –Candor is generally a sound ethical strategy. But you might be advised not to discuss your case at all with insurance company representatives, for instance, before speaking with an experience North Carolina workers' compensation attorney. After all, your employer and your employer’s proxies may not have your financial interests in mind. And making even "innocent" statements can jeopardize your claim.

3. Changing your story – when you do give a statement to an employer or an insurance company representative, if you later revise the facts of the incident, your claim may come under significant suspicion, particularly if it’s a large claim or a claim for benefits that might last years or even decades.

4. Failure to keep a paper trail and to track witness statements - just because you ‘know’ you should be entitled to workers' compensation benefits doesn’t mean that your employer, an insurance company, or even an objective judge will agree. Fortify your contentions by collecting statements from employees who saw you get hurt, by keeping track of any paperwork your doctor or employer provides, and so forth. Do this spade work, and your North Carolina workers' compensation attorney should be able to dispatch your case more quickly, efficiently, and effectively.

When most people think of accidents that merit North Carolina workers’ compensation coverage, they think of catastrophes, like the explosion at the North Carolina Slim Jim plant in June 2009. Acute injuries attract ample media coverage. But overuse injuries stemming from chronic ergonomic effects often don't, even though they account for a significant slice of North Carolina workers’ compensation claims.

Overuse injuries, such as repetitive stress injuries (RSI), thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS), carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), “blackberry” thumb, joint and soft tissue damage, and eye strain often take months or even years to develop. But once an employee suffers chronic damage, he or she may find it very difficult to regain functions, find good care, and get enough North Carolina workers’ compensation benefits to pay for medical costs.

Recovering workers often complain that physicians are too quick to prescribe cortisone injections, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and surgeries. At the same time, many doctors who specialize in treatment of these injuries seem not to pay attention enough to more holistic factors, such as trigger points, poor workstation ergonomics, bad posture, and lack of physical activity and work breaks. That’s why it’s so important for injured North Carolina workers to get the facts about soft tissue injuries and to explore their treatment options thoroughly before paying for expensive interventions or agreeing to surgeries that can have permanent negative consequences if they don’t go precisely as planned.

Third Body Found in Slim Jim Plant Explosion Rubble, FoxNews, June 10, 2009

On the Other "Hand"
Repetitive Overuse Injuries of the Hand & Wrist, Hughston Sports Medicine Foundation

More Web Resources
Ergonomic Tips

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome