Are injury lawyers licking their chops over down economy?
March 20, 2009 by Fred HosierPosted in: Injuries, Lawsuits, Special Report, Workers' comp, cost of safety
Who has more work during the down economy? A lawyer who represents people injured on the job expects he may be getting more work.
Scott Gennarelli, an attorney with Salenger, Sack, Schwartz & Kimmel in Woodbury, NY, says the economy could lead to companies cutting corners with safety. And of course, that could lead to more workplace injuries — and related lawsuits that his firm handles.
In a Long Island Business Review story headlined, “Down economy ups risk of construction injuries,” Gennarelli says economic pressure on builders could lead them to try to save money by having fewer workers do the same amount of work, rushing construction or saving money on materials.
According to Gennarelli, “There are incentive clauses. If contractors finish earlier, they get a bonus. If they’re late, there are penalties. That leads to pushing workers to get work done.”
Another point of view
A contractor quoted in the story, who asked to remain anonymous, provides a different point of view.
He says a down economy isn’t likely to change some companies. “There are always people who cut corners. Will people cheat when times get tough? Some people will never cheat.”
And speaking of cheating, another unidentified contractor quoted in the story says he’s seen a surge in workers’ comp claims among people about to be laid off.
“This is a pattern I’m observing,” the contractor said. “It was brought to me by my comptroller who said we’re having workmen’s comp claims for very minor injuries that seem to occur in the couple of weeks before we downsized.”
Example: An employee who fears a layoff may file a report complaining of a pulled muscle. It’s an injury that’s difficult to disprove.
After being laid off, the employee uses the previously filed report to apply for comp.
Have you experienced a recent rise in workers’ comp claims? Is this a pattern you’ve experienced in previous recessions? What sorts of bogus workers’ comp cases have you encountered?
Let us know in the Comments Box below.
SafetyNewsAlert.com delivers the latest Safety news once a week to the inboxes of over 270,000 Safety professionals.
Click here to sign up and start your FREE subscription to SafetyNewsAlert!
Tags: cutting corners with safety, Workers' comp, workplace injuries
Loading ...
March 23rd, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I’m definately seeing an increase in employees being represented by WC attorneys for relatively minor injuries. I have also seen a “spike” in the re-activation of old claims for sprains and strains where the worker never sought medical attention and when laid off they suddenly become unable to work or find work because of pain etc.
March 23rd, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Actually in my company we have not had an OSHA recordable in 4 months. I believe that it is the opposite effect when the economy is down. Employees do not want to become noticed by management, so they keep quite about the injuries they sustain during work in fear that they will be fired for being possible future work comp cases.
March 23rd, 2009 at 1:40 pm
I am in general industry and there are a lot of ex-employees who are re-opening old claims, even for minor injuries, with representation. While most of these will be denied the fact that they have representation (a lawyer) results in excessive costs to our company, even if it doesn’t go to court.
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Take adavantage of slow times to get caught up on your safety training. Our employees are not working overtime and welcome the opportunity to come in late in the day for short safety training sessions. They get paid for their time and we reap the benefit of increased safety awareness. OSHA and lawyers? Hah !!
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:20 pm
We had a lot of minor claims (scarpes, cuts, strains, etc) before we began laying off. Now we are seeing the same trend as Tim Ashman. We are a small (150 employees) unionized manufacturer and employees seem to want to stay out of the spotlight.
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:53 pm
We recently had a worker complain of a rash he claimed resulted from working with certain chemicals that he’s worked with for years. He filed a worker’s comp claim and it was being processed. He then stopped showing up to work and after 5 days, we sent him a notice that he was considered to have abandoned his job. He is now suing us for wrongful termination claiming we fired him in retaliation to his filing a workers comp claim.
March 24th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I agree with Steve. Our company provides safety products and our sales were up 9% in 2008 and we’re projecting a 15% increase for 2009. 02/09 was a record breaking month for our sales, so companies may be cutting expenses, but we haven’t seen it in safety.
An EE who’s on the list for downsizing may submit a comp claim to protect themselves but I don’t think that’s a reflection on (overall) company safety in this economy.