In these blogs, we discuss many different kinds of workplace injuries. Often, we lay out the facts about cumulative trauma injuries, repetitive stress injuries, that kind of thing. These are the injuries that have been a problem at American workplaces for centuries. You can get workers compensation to help you to pay for any medical bills that can result from those injuries and more. In our modern era, workplace shootings are seemingly becoming more common. We can help you to receive compensation injuries sustained during one of those, as well. In this blog, we’ll cover workplace shootings in Glendale and how we can help.
Workplace Shootings in Glendale
Workplace shootings are seemingly always in the news. It can feel like, wherever you turn, there’s another tragic story about another tragic workplace shooting. However, if you really look at the evidence, it’s even more startling: not every workplace shooting becomes a nationwide story. They still occur, and they’re reported on, but not every single shooting breaks into the greater national consciousness.
These shootings can be some of the terrifying experiences of a person’s life. One moment, you’re doing your job, and the next someone is firing a loaded weapon. At first, these might seem like a criminal matter (which they absolutely are) but they can be a worker’s compensation matter as well. You didn’t do anything to make the workplace shooting occur; you were just doing your job. As with any other workers compensation injury, when you’re injured in the course of doing your job, you deserve to be compensated for it.
Workplace Violence in California
Obviously, workplace shootings are workplace violence. However, as you might imagine, they are far from the only kind of workplace violence that can occur. Where you have to be careful with workplace violence workers compensation claims is that they have to be work related. For example, if you’re robbed or stolen from while at the work site while doing your job, that can be workers compensation. If you’re robbed by a vengeful ex while at work, you might not qualify for workers compensation.
These gray areas are the kind of thing that a professional workers compensation attorney can help you to figure out. Here at the ODG Law Group, we offer free, no risk consultations. That means that you can contact us and we’ll be glad to sit down with you to discuss your case. Truthfully, this is one of our favorite parts of the job: we just get to work with regular people, and figure out how we can best help them. From there, we can tell you your options, as well as what the next steps are.
OSHA Workplace Violence
OSHA has some definitions of different kinds of workplace violence. For example, if you work in the service industry (or many other industries) you might be at risk for violence from service recipients. These include violent acts perpetrated against you while you’re offering a service from your business. You’re doing your job, and you’re attacked by some customer, client, patient, guest, user or anyone else. If you’re harmed while doing your job, we can help.
Many workplace shootings come under the heading of “Criminal Intent.” These are incidents where people go into your workplace intending to commit violence. When fired or laid off employees come back to the workplace to shoot, or employees enter the workplace determined to shoot their colleagues or supervisors, it could be a case of criminal intent.
That can also be included under “violence between co-workers,” too. Should you be attacked or even just threatened by someone you used to work with or work with now, that’s workplace violence. As with everything in life, you want to have a cool head. It can be extremely difficult if not impossible to get you workers compensation when it was proven that you threatened someone else first, or if you started being violent.
Some people are surprised when we tell them this, but there isn’t really a federal law about preventing workplace violence. Obviously, these are criminal acts, but there isn’t something specific to the workplace. Fortunately, we live in California. Here, there are state laws that say employers have to give you a safe environment. They can’t just expose you to dangerous conditions (or even out and out hazardous conditions).
This is one more responsibility that employers have in California. While it may not be possible for them to stop every violent threat, you are entitled to a safe environment. If you are injured in some kind of workplace violence, you can claim workers compensation so long as you were doing your job. In some cases, you may be able to bring a suit against the third party who injured you, as well.
As you might imagine from reading the above, there’s quite a bit of gray area in these laws. As workplace shootings have seemingly been on the rise for the last few years, the laws aren’t necessarily in place yet to focus on everything. That’s where we come in. Should you be injured in a workplace shooting or any other kind of workplace violence, we can be by your side every step of the way. We can help you to receive the compensation you deserve for everything that you’ve had to go through.
Kinds of Compensation
Perhaps the most common kind of compensation that clients receive from workers comp is medical bills. You didn’t do anything to hurt yourself; you were hurt through the actions of another. So, you shouldn’t have to pay for your medical bills. Whether you have to recover in the hospital for a long period of time, or you just need to spend plenty of time away from work as you recover, we can help. With our help you, can get the compensation to pay for your medical bills, trips to the doctor, prescriptions, rehab and plenty else.
When you’re hurt through some act of workplace violence, it can make it extremely difficult (if not impossible) to do your job. Maybe you don’t want to go to work for a while, or perhaps you’ll even have to do some other kind of job. However, hard as this time can be, you were counting on that money. The people who count on you were counting on that money, too. We can help you to recover your lost wages. That way, you don’t have to worry about rushing back to work. You can recoup the money that you would have made had there never been an incident of workplace violence in the first place.
Of course, unfortunately, some of our clients can’t go back to their jobs period after an incident of workplace violence. When that’s the case, we can help you to get the lost wages you would’ve made on into the future. With our trusted medical professionals, we can find out the right kind of compensation for your needs. It’s important to note that, when you’re going through the process of recovering from a workplace shooting or other form of violence, you aren’t alone. We can be there to guide you through it, from the initial consultation to the moment that you get the compensation you’re looking for.
We know that the workers compensation process isn’t always easy. In fact, it can be downright frustrating. So many of our clients had their initial claims rejected, and they didn’t feel like there was any way they were going to get their compensation. Then, after meeting with us, we were able to work with them to help them to the money that they deserved. We can do the same for you. Scheduling a free consultation with us is easy. All you have to do is give us a call at (818) 975-3080 or message us through our site.
