Is their anything I can do?

[mlee19841]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? PA

I was injured on the job about a year ago. I wasn't removed from work until 2 months later. During the two months i had to work, it was snowing out. I had to shovel my car out to get to work. I was injured on the job on 12/20/2010 I'm still out of work. I feel that the condition worsened due to that. Is their anything i can due as in sue the company wise. Also I have a upcoming appointment next month to meet with a surgeon. Is their a good outcome if i would get back surgery. I have 1 herniated disc and 3 bulging. I've been in pain for about a year now. Also I'm starting to get a week feeling in one of my legs. Thanks for your input.Also to add I injured my back at the same job about a year and a half ago.

 

[cbg]

When did you report the accident? When did you first seek medical care? Who took you off work?

 

[mlee19841]

i reported the injury the day i was injured back in December. The same day i went to seek medical care. My human resource leader sent me to see a workmen's comp. doctor. I saw them for about 3 months before i went off and found other doctors to go to. The reason for that is because i feel w.c doctors rush you back to work and all they did was give me a x-ray to look for any problems. The doctor that removed me from work was a orthopedic surgeon.I had to go see a chiropractor to get a MRI done. I've been getting physical therapy for about 9-10 months with no relief and i had about 6 epidural injections(2 injections each time I went 3 times) with no relief.

 

[cbg]

Workers comp is your SOLE remedy in almost all cases. I asked the questions I did to see whether or not yours was one of the very rare exceptions. It is not. The company is not responsible for the snowfall.

No, you cannot sue the company.

 

[mlee19841]

So even though the job made me come to work. When i was injured for 2 months, after the injury and i had to still shovel snow to get my car out.. To make it to work and their is a chance doing that made the injury worse their is nothing i can do.

 

[cbg]

Did your doctor say that you shouldn't work during those two months?

When my arm was in a sling and my husband was out of town, I gave the kid across the street $20 to shovel out my car.

 

[mlee19841]

The thing is during the 2 month period when i was injured and at work. i went and saw the workmen's comp. doctor. I thought u had to follow procedure and see them for 90 days. which i did and they didn't care they sent me back to work on light duty(which their is no light duty at my job)So i had to bite my tongue and go back to work and stand around for 8 hours a day on a concrete floor.

 

[cbg]

So your doctor didn't see fit to take you off work, but you want to sue your employer because they didn't let you stay home when it snowed.

Sorry, that's not how it works.

The workers comp laws are set up very specifically to avoid lawsuits. The employer is required to pay for work related injuries; in exchange, you do not get to sue them. There are very, VERY rare exceptions but they do not apply here.

Feel free to talk to a workers comp lawyer to see that your rights are protected but you will NOT be able to sue your employer.

 

[mlee19841]

It wasn't my doctor that didn't want to remove me it was the workmen's comp. doctor that work's with the job.My job is nothing but manual labor 24/7 so for them not to remove me didn't make any sense.I also expressed to them their is no light duty at my job.They never mentioned a mri only did a x-ray and they are suppose to be the people u turn to when u are injured its a big joke with those people.when i had the mri done it showed a lot of disc damage.but thanks for your input anyway.

 

[cbg]

Whether it was your doctor, the workers comp doctor, or a random EMT off the street, the fact remains that the medical person you were seeing for the injury did not think it was necessary to remain off work. The workers comp doctor does not get paid more if he sends you back to work early, or anything like that; he has no incentive to send you to work if there is medical reason for you not to be.

None of which changes the fact that UNDER THE LAW YOU CANNOT SUE YOUR EMPLOYER FOR A WORKERS COMP INJURY.

 

[Willlyjo]

It wasn't my doctor that didn't want to remove me it was the workmen's comp. doctor that work's with the job.My job is nothing but manual labor 24/7 so for them not to remove me didn't make any sense.I also expressed to them their is no light duty at my job.They never mentioned a mri only did a x-ray and they are suppose to be the people u turn to when u are injured its a big joke with those people.when i had the mri done it showed a lot of disc damage.but thanks for your input anyway.

Where is your attorney? You clearly do not have your claim under control--you need an attorney like yesterday!

 

[commentator]

And if you do have an attorney, it is very likely, given the laws, that he/she cannot get you any more money out of worker's comp than you would have gotten otherwise. So if you elect to get an attorney, all they will do is explain to you what is happening, exactly what you are going to get, which you could have found out for yourself, and make you feel like you are more in control And when they say we won't get paid unless you get paid, they're really telling the truth, as you will be giving them some of the money you would've been paid anyway.

Your decision to shovel off your car and go in to work those days was your own. You do not know that you would've been terminated if you had called in when you couldn't shovel (highly doubtful). You could've used another form of transportation to get in to work, or paid someone to shovel off your car. That you were actually capable of shoveling off your car, under any circumstances, backs up the fact that you have several doctors who didn't think your condition due to the work related injury was bad enough to put you off work altogether.

There is no incentive for a "company" doctor to send you back to work if you are in real danger of being injured much worse, any more so than any other doctor. The company and the worker's comp insurer would have more liability if this happened. You can have lots of disc damage that show in an MRI and still not have been injured on the job. It is certainly a facet of growing older, a lifetime of wear and tear on the back.

So from reading this, have you actually been off work receiving your Worker's Comp pay for over a year, since sometime in early 2011? At what point did you stop working completely? Is your case still open? Are you on light duty now?