The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is an agency under the federal Department of Labor charged with assuring worker safety. The Administration’s mission is to assure “safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and...
Georgia Workers’ Compensation
Federal Court Determines Injured Worker’s Sole Remedy Is through a Workers’ Compensation Claim Because At-Fault Party Was a “Contractor” of Plaintiff’s Employer
Earlier this year, a federal appellate court issued an opinion dismissing a personal injury case filed by an injured worker after he had already received Workers’ Compensation benefits from his employer. In the case, Black v. Dixie Consumer Products, the court held...
Companies Cannot Set Their Own Workers’ Compensation Rules, Oklahoma Decides
Lawmakers in Oklahoma passed legislation three years ago that gave companies the ability to “opt out” of the state’s workers’ compensation system and write their own plans. It was yet another example of the gradual whittling away of injured workers’ rights across the...
Nichols v. Fairway Bldg Prods. – Proving Causation of Work Injury
It’s not uncommon in Georgia workers’ compensation claims for employers or insurers to dispute causation in order to avoid having to pay the claim. This is especially true in cases where the worker was seriously injured and may require temporary total disability...
OSHA Fights to Inspect Georgia Poultry Plant for Worker Injury Risks
The Occupational Safety & Health Administration is fighting against a federal magistrate’s ruling denying the agency a warrant that would allow it to inspect a poultry plant in Gainesville, Georgia for alleged worker safety violations. The U.S. Magistrate stated...
Report: Deck Stacked Against Workers’ Compensation Claimants
Injured workers who seek remedy through the appellate process often find themselves at odds with “independent medical examiners,” explains a recent report by NBC. Although the report focuses mainly on cases from the Bay Area of California, this issue is applicable...
Velecela v. All Habitat Servs. – Emotional Distress Claim Barred by Workers’ Comp. Exclusive Remedy
Survivors of those who are killed on-the-job may be entitled to workers’ compensation death benefits. Most of the time, these benefits will preclude any further claim against an employer under the workers’ compensation exclusivity provision. That is, workers’...
OSHA: Fatal Work Site Explosion Was Preventable
Federal government safety investigators have blasted the administrators and managers of a Rockmart, Georgia feed mill operation that was the site of a fatal workplace explosion in February. OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) asserted that the plant...
Medical Worker’s Family Fights for Workers’ Compensation Death Benefits
Stephen Halton Jr. was on his way to save a life, while working toward a better life for his family. A medical worker at a large hospital in Northeast Ohio, Halton was on-call for the early-morning shift. He got word around midnight: Be here by 6 a.m. A patient needs...
OSHA’s New Anti-Retaliation Rules Delayed
The new workplace injury anti-retaliation rules were supposed to be in place this month. However, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it will delay enforcement of some portions of it until November. News of the delay comes as...

