Workers’ Compensation Retaliation

Our Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation retaliation lawyers will fight for you. Every year numerous people are injured on the job. The injury can occur by an accident or even sometimes because the employer causes the dangerous condition because of their negligence, or even worse. In Pennsylvania, workers can avail themselves of a claim called “wrongful discharge” when they have experienced a workplace injury then start experiencing retaliation such as when the employer chooses not to bring them back to work or fires them. At other times the employer may bring the employee back to work but not honor their restrictions. This often causes the employee to reinjure themselves or to exacerbate an underlying injury and forces them out of work again.

In one particular case, the employer waited until the employee requested workers’ compensation after he had been in a serious accident and was injured. After the employee expressed his need for help, the employer suspended him pending an “investigation.” Of course the investigation was bogus and the employee was brought back to work in a warehouse for long enough to find a reason to fire him. Donham Law, your Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Retaliation lawyers, were able to quickly uncover the real reason for the termination and then to work with the employee to resolve the matter with his former employer.

In Morgantown, West Virginia, there is a state statute that allows workers to sue their employer if the employer has caused the injury through their negligence or recklessness. It is not always easy but your West Virginia Workers’ Compensation Retaliation lawyers at Donham Law have been able to assist employees under these circumstances. For instance, an employer had permitted certain chemicals to be placed in the workplace that it knew were combustible and yet never provided any protection for the employees. When a fire and explosion occurred, people were seriously injured. These individuals had a claim under West Virginia law for damages flowing for their employer’s negligence. Normally workers’ compensation would be all they could avail themselves of but in West Virginia the law is stricter and the workers were able to obtain a resolution to their claims.

Pennsylvania and West Virginia are at-will employment states and this means that employees can be fired for a good, bad, or no reason at all, as long as the reason does not violate a public policy. Don’t let yourself get caught in this trap especially if you feel your rights have been violated. These rights include the right to request workers’ compensation and the right to hold the employer accountable for negligence in West Virginia.

In another case, an employee was driving a vehicle for the employer and the employee was injured in an accident with a large truck that was no fault of his own. When the employee requested time off and workers’ compensation, he was promptly fired for the bogus reason that he was in an accident. The employer literally believed if he fired this worker than he could avoid the costs associated with the workers’ compensation he would have to pay for time off to recuperate. Donham Law quickly explained to the employer and its counsel that the law would provide our client with remedies if they did not resolve the matter. They did, and the worker was able to obtain both workers’ compensation settlements as well as settlements for the employer’s failure to follow the law when it fired the client.

If you have experienced or are experiencing workers comp retaliation, or simply don’t know, but you have been experiencing scrutiny or discipline for no good reason, don’t get stuck in the position of losing your income or being mistreated at work. Sometimes employers will even try to fire workers to avoid losing safety bonuses and try to bring guilt on the employee for having an accident, telling him or her not to file the claim. Don’t listen to this attempt to retaliate contact your Pennsylvania and West Virginia Workers’ Compensation retaliation lawyers at Donham Law for a free initial case review* today. Call (717) 881-7855.