Pennsylvania Workers’ Comp Lawyer for Food Processing Workers

Pennsylvania is the home of processing for some of the country’s favorite foods.  From candies and snack foods to beer, beef, and poultry, food processing workers are vital to our state’s economy.

When you get injured doing your job, your employer is supposed to take care of your injuries.  Workers’ Compensation benefits should cover most food processing workers, but getting large employers or their insurance carriers to pay what they owe you is often a job for our attorneys.

Call Cardamone Law at (267) 651-7945 for a free case review from our Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Lawyers.

Do I Have to Use Workers’ Compensation in Pennsylvania?

Many work injuries can only be compensated through Workers’ Compensation.  Lawsuits cannot be filed against your direct employer, who is often the one responsible for injuries.  Alternatively, you may have injured yourself by accident, making a lawsuit impossible.

In these situations, Workers’ Comp is likely going to be the only option for damages.

While you can sue outside parties, you need to prove they were at fault to hold them responsible.  This could lead to lawsuits against equipment manufacturers or others outside the workplace, but this is not a common occurrence in food processing.

Most worker injuries in food processing stem from exhaustion, dangerous workplace conditions, slippery floors, and accidental cuts – the kinds of accidents that would be blamed on the employer or the worker.  Because of this, Workers’ Comp might be your best – and only – option.

Injuries for Meat Packing Workers

Beef and poultry workers face a high incidence of injury on the job.  Close quarters often make handling a knife or saw dangerous, and cuts and even amputations are quite common.  Additionally, lifting and moving massive cuts of beef is backbreaking work, leading to herniated discs and other back injuries.

These worksites are also notorious for slippery floors and dangerous surfaces, which can lead to slip and fall injuries.  This might not sound serious, but falls can cause back injuries and head injuries, especially if you fell into a dangerous machine or struck an object on the way down.

Injuries for other Food Processing Workers

Workers in more traditional factory settings making candies, snack foods, canned/bottled goods, and other items often face a serious risk of injury from the machines around them.

These machines have moving parts that you can easily catch your hair or a sleeve on, potentially sucking you into the machine or causing serious amputation or crush injuries.

Lifting, carrying, and pushing bins or trolleys can also lead to serious injuries.  Straining a muscle or throwing out your back can leave you with months of recovery time.  Injuries can be even worse if you are involved in a forklift accident.

Many cooking, processing, and packaging systems also use high heat.  Not only can this make work conditions more dangerous in hot months, potentially leading you to pass out or suffer heat stroke, but burns are quite common in some plants and factories.

Again, there is also a risk of serious cuts and lacerations from various knives and cutting tools.

Getting Workers’ Compensation for Food Processing Injuries

When you get hurt, you should seek medical care immediately.  This is essentially the first step in your claim, as records of your injuries and initial treatment will be vital to proving your injury was severe and that it happened at work.

From there, you notify your employer of your injury within 21 days of the accident to start your claim.  Your employer then responds within 21 days, leading to one of the following outcomes:

Granted Benefits

This is rare, but employers might grant benefits based on your initial filing.  If that happens, you might not need a lawyer – yet.  However, as your case progresses and you remain disabled, your employer might try to terminate benefits or push you to return to work, potentially leading to situations where you will need legal help.

Settlement Offers

If your employer offers to settle your case, they can pay you what they would pay as ongoing benefits in a lump-sum settlement.  This requires you to sign a compromise and release agreement, where you agree to stop pursuing damages and give up further rights in exchange for the payout.

Never accept one of these settlements before speaking with our Workers’ Comp lawyers for food processing workers first.  You should understand your rights and what you are giving up before settling.

For example, if your injury might get worse over time, a settlement would mean you have no option to get additional medical care covered later.

Temporary Benefits

Employers can also grant temporary benefits, giving them 90 days to change their mind.  This gets you replacement wages and medical care coverage while they continue to investigate the claim, and it allows them to turn acceptance into rejection.

Rejection

If your employer denies your claim, then our lawyers can step in and take the case to court.  By filing a Claim Petition with a Workers’ Comp Judge (WCJ), we can have a special judge determine your case in a Workers’ Comp hearing.  This requires evidence and medical examinations we can guide you through, along with other evidence.

Cases can be resolved by ordering your employer to pay your benefits, by both parties settling, or by the WCJ also rejecting your case.  We can appeal rejections further.

Calculating Workers’ Comp Benefits for Food Processing Workers

Workers’ Compensation pays three main areas of benefits, which should be fully accounted for in your benefits or settlement:

• Medical Benefits
• Wage-Loss Benefits
• Specific Loss Benefits.

Medical benefits cover all treatment costs related to your injury.

Wage-loss benefits cover 2/3 of your lost wages if you are totally disabled.  This has a cap set by law at the statewide average weekly wage.  If your benefit would be much lower than this amount, you receive half the statewide average or 90% of your lost wages, whichever is higher.

If you are partially disabled and working with accommodations or at another temporary job, your benefits equal 2/3 of the difference between what you made before the injury and what you make now.

Specific loss benefits are additional payments for serious injuries like facial scars, amputation/lost function, and lost hearing or vision.  The Workers’ Comp Act sets the number of weeks you get benefits for each listed injury.

Call Our Workers’ Compensation Lawyers for Food Processing Workers Today

Call our Workers’ Comp lawyers for food processing workers at Cardamone Law by dialing (267) 651-7945.