Workers Compensation Attorney for Injured SEPTA Employees

SEPTA drivers are often injured by assault at work, let alone from other causes of injury. If you work for SEPTA and are injured while working, you are entitled to 2/3 of any wage loss that results from the injury, in addition to payment of all medical bills for reasonable, necessary, and related medical treatment. There are also specific loss benefits available for permanent disfigurement of the head, face, or neck, or for amputations or the loss of use of a limp for all practical intents and purposes, vision loss, or hearing loss. Specific loss benefits are available even if the injury doesn’t cause you to stop working.

SEPTA has detailed and strict policies for injured workers once an injury has taken place, so it is important to speak to a lawyer to help guide you through the complicated maze of rules. Sometimes they will try to terminate employment if you do not follow the rules. But Workers’ Compensation has its own rules to follow.

Call our Workers’ Compensation attorneys for injured SEPTA employees at Cardamone Law today at (267) 651-7945 for a free case evaluation

Bringing Injury Claims Against SEPTA Through Workers’ Compensation

SEPTA can be aggressive in fighting work-related injury claims, so don’t be afraid to hire an experienced Workers’ Compensation attorney for injured SEPTA workers to understand your rights under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Law. We have won cases against SEPTA and other large Pennsylvania Employers. We aren’t afraid of any Employer or Defense Firm. We are Work Related Injury SEPTA Lawyers who will maximize your entitlement.

Cardamone Law has successfully represented many SEPTA employees in Workers’ Compensation litigation. In addition, if you were a passenger on a SEPTA bus, train, trolley, or the subway, and injured as a result of someone’s negligence, we can refer you to an experienced personal injury firm to help you get compensated for your injuries. Many attorneys fail to investigate where there is a third-party claim when someone is injured at work. Our Workers Comp Lawyers will make sure you are presented with all legal options.

How Workers’ Compensation Claims Work for SEPTA Employees

When you get injured at work, you usually cannot sue your employer. Instead, you file your case as a Workers’ Compensation claim with the employer’s insurance carrier. To start your claim after an injury, you report it to the proper people at SEPTA within 21 days of the injury, or within 120 days at the absolute latest. Our attorneys can help with this step to make sure that the report gets to the right people, that it gets put in on time, and that you get confirmation that they received the notice of injury.

After they receive your notice, they have 21 days to determine whether they will pay your claim and give you benefits, deny the claim entirely, or pay on a temporary basis and start your benefits with the ability to cancel them later. If they refuse to pay your claim or they fail to respond at all, we can file a petition in court to get the claim processed there.

Once the case is before a judge, they will schedule a hearing to determine whether your injury was work-related and whether you are unable to work, requiring benefits. SEPTA and their insurance carrier will usually fight your claim rather than accepting it, making it harder to get the claim approved without legal help from a Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Specialist like those at our firm.

At any point, the insurance carrier or SEPTA itself might reach out to you with an offer to settle the case instead of continuing it through court or paying you on an ongoing basis. In a lump-sum settlement, you get paid once to cover the total costs you would receive as benefits throughout your case, which means the settlement needs to be big enough to cover lost wages, medical bills, and specific loss benefits. Our attorneys can help negotiate this settlement or refuse it and get benefits ordered on an ongoing basis, whatever is best for your case.

What Benefits Does SEPTA Pay Injured Workers through Workers’ Comp?

Workers’ Comp pays three main areas of benefits to injured workers: medical benefits, wage-loss benefits, and specific loss benefits. In addition, families of SEPTA workers who were killed by a work-related injury can often seek death benefits.

Medical Benefits

Workers’ Comp pays for your medical treatment for a work-related injury, covering the cost of surgeries, hospital stays, doctor’s visits, casts, crutches, and whatever else you need to treat your injuries, cope with the pain, and get better. Their goal is to get you back to work, so they should be more than willing to help you recover and get to a place where you can get back to your job.

This should cover the costs of medication, physical therapy, and other expenses, too.

Wage-Loss Benefits

As mentioned at the top of this article, Workers’ Comp should cover 2/3 of lost wages for injured workers who cannot return to work. If you can return at a limited capacity with reduced wages or hours, then you should instead get 2/3 of the difference between what you earned before the accident and what you earn now.

There are special thresholds and circumstances in which low-wage earners might get up to 90% of their wage covered, but this is unlikely to apply to most SEPTA workers based on current wages. Instead, some workers might actually face a cap on their potential benefits equal to the statewide average weekly wage. If you make over $1,987.50 per week, then your weekly wage-loss benefits will be capped at $1,325 (for 2024).

These benefits are usually paid according to your normal pay schedule (weekly or bi-weekly).

Specific Loss Benefits

The Workers’ Comp Act requires employers/their insurance carriers to pay specific benefits based on permanent injuries or loss of function. These benefits are also paid for certain disfigurement injuries for lost hearing/sight. Benefits are paid in terms of a number of weeks’ worth of 2/3 of your normal wage, with certain numbers of weeks assigned to various types of injuries.

Our attorneys can help you understand how much your injury should be worth and how this should be incorporated into any potential settlement negotiations.

Death Benefits

When a SEPTA worker passes away because of a work injury, their family is entitled to claim benefits instead. This can cover lost earnings, pay for any end-of-life medical care they might have paid for out of pocket, and cover certain costs for funeral/burial expenses.

Common Work Accidents for SEPTA Workers in Pennsylvania

SEPTA workers can be injured in many different ways, but as long as the injuries were work-related, Workers’ Comp is supposed to cover them.

Assault

Many injuries to SEPTA workers come from riders and other people who attack SEPTA drivers and staff. These assaults are clearly the fault of someone’s intentional actions, but they can nonetheless get you coverage through your employer’s Workers’ Comp in most cases.

Slip and Falls

Track work, vehicle repairs/cleaning, and even getting to your bus or train can be hazardous in inclement weather. Slipping and falling in the vehicle, on SEPTA property, or while getting on or off your vehicle could all cause surprisingly serious injuries if you hit your head, hurt your back, or break a bone.

Track/Vehicle Repair Injuries

If you work on the tracks or vehicles for SEPTA, you could be injured in many different ways. From dangerous tools to general construction injuries to construction vehicle injuries, you could face serious harm or even amputation injuries on the job.

Vehicle Accidents

Although accidents with SEPTA vehicles are rare, they do happen. Workers rarely get hit by trains, and so it is far more common for bus drivers and trolley operators to get hit by other drivers on the road, potentially suffering injuries in the crash. These are decidedly work-related accidents if your job is driving for SEPTA, and they should be covered.

We Have Successfully Handled Cases Against SEPTA

Cardamone Law has secured a significant victory against SEPTA, in a case involving a work-related cervical injury. Claimant was a bus driver for SEPTA, sustaining a cervical injury while working several years ago. In November 2017, SEPTA’s attorney, filed a Petition to Modify, alleging Claimant had an earning power based on the experts reports of Dr. Ira Sachs, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon, and vocational expert, Michael Smychynsky, a certified rehab counselor. Attorney Michael Cardamone, owner of Cardamone Law, filed an Answer denying the allegations. The allegation, more specifically, was that Claimant could perform various jobs identified in a Labor Market Survey- lighter duty jobs that were allegedly within his physical and vocational abilities.

Over the following year, the parties presented evidence. On behalf of Claimant, Cardamone presented the expert testimony of neurosurgeon, Dr. Nirav Shah. In addition, Cardamone presented the testimony of Claimant before the Workers’ Compensation Judge. The Employer deposed Dr. Sachs and Mr. Smychynsky.

The attorneys submitted extensive Briefs in the Spring of 2018, and on October 1, 2018, the WCJ denied the Petition to Modify, finding that Claimant was unable to perform the jobs identified in the Labor Market Survey, based on the credible testimony of Claimant and Dr. Shah. The WCJ ordered that wage loss benefits continue (medical benefits were not challenged in the Petition to Modify), and reimbursement of over $6,000 in litigation costs to Cardamone Law.

The Employer made an offer prior to the case being decided, but Claimant rejected it.

“The Judge issued a fair, detailed Decision”, Cardamone stated. “He recognized that our client’s symptoms were consistent with the extent of injury established by the cervical MRI, his post injuries surgeries, and also noted that Claimant’s testimony before him was credible, including his appearance and behavior at the hearing.”

As a result of the favorable Decision, Cardamone’s client will continue to receive his full weekly work comp pay for the indefinite future.

SEPTA has a team of highly skilled lawyers working on its behalf. You shouldn’t let them bully you after an injury.

Call Our SEPTA Injury Lawyers for Help with Your Workers’ Comp Claim Today

Contact Cardamone Law’s Workers’ Compensation attorneys for injured SEPTA employees at (267) 651-7945 for a free case evaluation.