Washington D.C. Workers' Compensation and Personal Injury Law Blog

Getting hurt on the job may happen from one accident or after repetitive actions leading to stress or physical pain. There are several ways in which a person can suffer on the job. Similarly, recovering from an injury may consist of one procedure or a long process of rehabilitation. It can be very complex to work through these details when it comes to seeking workers' compensation benefits.

Recently, a man in Virginia took his workers' compensation claim to court. After falling at work and hurting his hip, groin, femur and knee, the man underwent some pool therapy with a physical therapist, which was covered by his benefits. After 8 months of formal therapy, the man's physician prescribed the man to continue his pool therapy independently. It was after the man filed for reimbursement for his gym membership and travel costs that the insurance company denied his claim.

Road crews who work on busy highways can be put in dangerous situations if Virginia drivers are not paying attention. Since the ban on texting behind the wheel last year, however, all instances of distracted driving have been scrutinized. The campaign called the "Orange Cones, No Phones" initiative is further highlighting the dangers of distracted driving in Virginia. The aim of this campaign is to combat distracted driving especially in construction zones to prevent serious car accidents.

The safety of road crews relies heavily on driver awareness. This is why fines are increased in work zones and much attention is paid to alerting drivers of road work. But putting out orange cones and signs and flashing lights may not be enough to make some drivers pay attention. According to a survey of over 400 Virginia law enforcement officials, they estimate that about 40 percent of drivers still engage in distracting phone behaviors in work zones.

Up until last year, workers in Virginia who suffered a brain injury on the job could be denied workers' compensation benefits. Insurance companies claimed that if a person has no memory of the work place accident, they cannot be sure that an injury was sustained on the job. However, in many brain injuries, memory loss is an extremely common result so this loophole was causing serious problems.

The law was revised last year, and supposedly closed this brain injury loophole. The revised law says that if a person is mentally or physically unable to testify because of the injuries suffered in the accident, there would be a presumption that the accident was, in fact, work related. As significant and important as this change was, it neglected another situation.

Many residents in Washington, D.C. are frequent subway passengers. The subways run day and night and maintaining them is very important. Recently, a subway operator suffered serious injuries while he was working on connecting two train cars. A freak accident led to extensive burns and injuries.

The man is a veteran subway operator in New York. He decided to take advantage of some overtime hours on his day off and was preparing to connect two separate cars using a device called a coupler. As he was carrying the 200-pound piece of equipment, it fell out of his hands onto an electrified rail. The contact caused an explosion which knocked the man down.