A worker who suffers an injury or contracts an illness on the job can permanently hinder their potential and that of their entire family. Over three million workers are seriously hurt on the job and thousands more die from workplace accidents every year. With employers contributing less and less to paying the costs of these injuries, the burden falls increasingly on the injured worker, their families and taxpayer-funded programs.
States across the country are making it more difficult for the injured to recover the workers’ compensation they are due: benefits such as wage-replacement and coverage of their medical expenses. Now, employers only contribute roughly 20% to defray the costs of workplace injuries and illnesses via workers’ compensation, forcing the remaining cost onto the worker.
A contributor to this trend is the increasing move to classify workers wrongly as independent contractors and to utilize temporary workers. This has led to an increase in the risk of injury for workers. At the same time, corporations are less inclined to take on the responsibility for providing a safe work environment for their employees.
The simplest answer to this problem is for employers to keep employees from harming themselves as much as possible in order to keep workers and their families from suffering financial ruin due to an injury. Likewise, each state’s workers’ compensation programs need to remove roadblocks and limitations to their programs so that employees can ready access the full compensation they deserve.
Were you hurt in a workplace injury? Speak with our San Antonio workers’ compensation lawyer today during your free case evaluation. We can put together a plan to recover the compensation you need!