I was injured at work because of my co-worker's negligence. Can I sue my co-worker or my employer?

In most all situations, the answer to this question is no. Georgia law provides that employers, the employer's alter egos, and an injured worker's coworkers are all immune from tort liability in the event of a workplace injury. This is known as the "Exclusive Remedy" provision of Georgia workers' compensation law. That is, when a worker is injured on the job, his "exclusive remedy" is to pursue a workers' compensation claim. 

It should be noted that nothing in the law precludes an injured worker from pursuing a tort claim against a third party who caused the injury. A common example of this is when a company driver is involved in a car accident that was the fault of the third party. In such a case, the injured worker can receive workers' comp benefits and pursue a personal injury claim against the at-fault driver (so long as this person is not a coworker or otherwise affiliated with the employer).

My back was bothering me before my work accident, but now it's really hurting. Can the employer deny benefits because of the pre-existing condition?

The aggravation of a pre-existing injury IS compensable under Georgia workers' compensation laws. As stated by the Georgia Supreme Court way back in 1940, "Fortunately for the employee, perfect health is not a prerequisite to the enjoyment of the benefits of this statute. There is no standard of health set up or provided in this statute." This rule has since been officially codified in Georgia law under O.C.G.A. ' 34-9-1(4).

Basically, every employer has to "take the employee as it finds him (or her)" and accept the fact that there may be a hidden or pre-existing health condition that could be aggravated by a work accident. Even if a "normal" person wouldn't have been injured by a certain accident, the employer is still responsible for paying medical and indemnity benefits for the injuries arising from the accident.

However, it is important to note that employers will often try to obtain an opinion from the ATP that the employee has "returned to pre-injury status" and that the "aggravation period" of the underlying injury has ended, which would then allow the employer to terminate benefits. In such a case, it is highly advised that the employee should consult with an attorney to defend against an untimely or unjust termination of benefits.

I was injured in my employer's parking lot as I was leaving work. Is this injury covered by workers' comp?

Most likely, yes. Typically, if you're injured in your employer's parking lot, whether you're coming to or leaving work, the injury is compensable under Georgia workers' comp. The language used to determine whether the injury is covered by workers' comp is "reasonable ingress/egress." That is, so long as the employee was was injured during a "reasonable" period of time while coming to or leaving work, it should be covered. The word "reasonable" obviously leaves some room for interpretation, so this is an issue that often gets disputed by employers. Another reason why an employer may controvert such an injury is if the parking lot itself is not under the control or maintenance of of employer. However, as stated above, this kind of injury is almost always compensable, so if your employer tries to deny benefits after you've been injured in their parking lot, you should immediately consult with an attorney to explore your options on how best to proceed.

Quick Definitions: "Catastrophic Injury"

Typically, a cap is placed on an injured worker's receipt of TTD benefits (unlike medical benefits, which are always the responsibility of the employer so long as it relates to the work injury). However, in the event of a "catastrophic injury," the 400 week cap is removed and the injured worker is entitled to TTD benefits for the rest of his or her life. Under Georgia law, there are 5 defined categories of catastrophic injuries--spinal cord, brain, serious burns, amputations, and blindness--and one "catch all" provision, which is factually specific and requires close examination of the true severity of the injury. In short, with regard to the "catch all" provision, if an injured worker is entitled to receive Social Security Disability benefits, he or she may (but not necessarily) be entitled to a "catastrophic" designation.

My doctor gave me two impairment ratings for the same body part. Which one applies?

It is not uncommon for an ATP to assign two separate PPD ratings pertaining to the same body part. For example, if you injured your shoulder, you physician may assign a 15% impairment rating to your shoulder and a corresponding 7% impairment rating to the "whole body." In situations like this, the rating which yields the highest number of weeks of payable benefits is the applicable impairment rating.  This is an extremely important thing to remember when discussing a potential settlement of your claim.

In this example, the 15% shoulder rating would be used to calculate the number of weeks that PPD benefits are payable, because it yields 33.75 weeks of benefits, compared to 21 weeks for the 7% "whole body" rating. As you can see, this would make a huge difference in the total amount of PPD benefits you receive! For more information on how PPD benefits are calculated, please look here.

It's important to note that this post only pertains to those situations where the impairment ratings relate to the same body part. In other words, the rules are different if you suffer an injured leg and an injured arm in the same work accident, and your doctor assigns separate ratings for each of those body parts.

Did You Know? (Surveillance Edition)

Did you know that the insurance company of your empoyer can hire a surveillance company to follow you around to try to obtain footage of you acting in a way that might undermine your workers' compensation claim? I'm not posting this to scare anybody, but it's an important thing to be aware of if you're involved in workers' compensation litigation. Seems pretty sneaky, but it's legal.

Now, it's one thing if the surveillance company catches you lifting heavy weights for an hour at the gym--but from my experience, surveillance footage is usually from a distance and only captures the target for very brief periods of time. Accordingly, it can be taken completely out of context and not be an accurate depiction of how you really feel at any given moment. This is precisely why you need to make sure that your interests are represented if the employer tries to use surveillance footage against you, whether it's at trial or during settlement negotiations. Having an experienced workers' compensation attorney on your side can make all the difference in these types of situations. If you have any questions about your claim, even if you're not in the Athens, Georgia area, give us a call and we'll do everything we can to help you.

Quick Definitions: "MMI"

This stands for maximum medical improvement. This status is typically assigned to you by your ATP towards the end of your treatment. Essentially, this means that your doctor feels that you are as good as you'll ever be with respect to your work injury, and that your recovery has reached its peak.