As other posts on this blog have discussed, our law firm is dedicated to helping New York employees who are injured on the job get the benefits that they both deserve, and will likely need, in order to make ends meet.
The first place we look with respect to benefits is workers’ compensation. These benefits are awarded without regard to whether a worker was at fault for his or her own injuries and are mandatory under New York’s laws.
However, these benefits do not always cover the full extent of an injured worker’s losses. For one, they take no account of a New York worker’s pain and suffering and other ‘non-economic’ damages. Workers’ compensation strictly covers items like lost income and medical bills. Moreover, with respect to lost income, workers’ compensation only replaces a portion of it.
This is why our firm generally has investigated workplace accidents very carefully in order to determine if there are other sources of recovery available. Although workers’ compensation laws usually prevent an employee from suing his or her employer, in many cases someone else is also at fault for the accident, such as the driver of a vehicle that ran into a construction worker or the manufacturer of a faulty piece of equipment.
Finally, even if there are no other avenues of recovery, we can help a worker who is permanently disabled apply for Social Security disability benefits. These are also awarded without regard to fault and can be paid, subject to certain limitations, over and above workers’ compensation benefits.