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If you have suffered work-related injuries contact the Salt Lake City, Utah-area firm of Siegfried & Jensen for reliable legal advice at no cost or obligation. Contact our law office today.
Siegfried & Jensen
5664 South Green St.
Murray, Utah 84123
Phone: 1-866-883-5350
Fax: 1-801-266-1338
Our firm handles a variety of cases involving work-related injuries in Salt Lake City and other areas throughout Utah. Workers' compensation is one of our major practice areas, and in the past we have worked hard to obtain fair compensation for employees from a variety of different professions. Our attorneys do, however, have a special concern for claims involving construction accidents for several reasons. As a category, work-related injuries stemming from construction accidents occur in environments that have an inherent potential to be hazardous. Construction accidents are more likely than accidents occurring in most other industries to result in fatal or catastrophic injuries. Construction workers also perform their jobs in an environment that is legally complex because of zoning laws, building codes, and safety regulations, in addition to Utah labor laws. Below are a few commonly asked questions about work-related injuries with answers geared specifically toward construction workers in Salt Lake City and other Utah areas.
The most commonly reported work-related injuries at construction sites are caused by falls, usually off roofs, ladders, and scaffolds. Electrocution is also a major source of construction accident injury. When managers and property owners fail to define the location of electrical lines, the results are often severe electrical burns and in some cases fatalities. Trench collapses are particularly dangerous construction site accidents. Co-workers and emergency personnel lose precious time as they struggle to gain access to workers who are not only injured, but buried.
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There are two types of construction accident claims. There is a workers' compensation claim that is filed with the Utah Labor Commission in order to receive benefits for work-related injuries that resulted from the construction accident. An injured construction worker also has the option of filing a third party claim against any person or persons other than the worker's employer who is/are deemed fully or partially responsible for the accident.
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In a typical workers' compensation case, there are usually two main parties – the injured employee and the employer who is bound by state labor laws to compensate the injured employee. Sometimes, however, there is a third party – either a person or legal entity who is partially responsible for the accident and therefore liable for the injuries that the worker suffered as a result. Unlike with the injured worker's employer, there are no laws in place that limit the damages owed by a third party who contributed to the injury-producing accident. Third party cases are most commonly seen when the work-related injury occurred at a construction site because so many people - foremen, contractors, subcontractors, engineers, safety consultants, property owners, heavy machinery maintenance companies, and others – have a potential partial duty to construction worker safety.
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No. Compensation for work-related injuries in Salt Lake City and throughout the state of Utah is a no-fault system. Your employer is required to carry workers' compensation insurance so that you may be compensated for your injuries and part of your lost wages, but your employer is not directly liable. You may, however, sue any party other than your employer if investigation of the accident site reveals that this person or persons may have been fully or partially responsible.
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Workers' compensation for work-related injuries in Salt Lake City and throughout the state of Utah is a no-fault system. This means that no matter who was at fault for the construction accident, anyone injured can obtain compensation. There are, however, a couple of exceptions to the no-fault rule. You cannot receive compensation for an injury that was intentionally self-inflicted. Also, if a judge rules that your injury was caused by your "willful failure" to follow safety standards or use safety equipment, then your workers' compensation benefits will be decreased by 15 percent. Testing positive for drugs or alcohol at the time of the accident usually disqualifies a worker from receiving workers' compensation benefits, unless it can be proven in court that intoxication played absolutely no role in the accident.
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Yes. There are no regulations against your employer terminating your employment after you have suffered a work-related injury. Utah labor law does, however, state that if you were fired because of a permanent work restriction, you may be eligible for disability benefits.
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Filing a work-related injuries claim with the Utah Labor Commission is actually fairly simple. Maximizing the settlement value of your construction accident claim is the part that is complex. There is a high probability that your workers' compensation claim will either be initially denied or that the first settlement offer will be less than the claim is worth. Maximizing the value of your workers' compensation claim often requires successfully pursuing one or more successful appeals. Appeals can involve presenting your claim before a claim's evaluation committee. A convincing claim appeal is best handled by a trained and experienced attorney skilled in the construction of legally convincing arguments. If a third party such as a manufacturer or a subcontractor was fully or partially responsible for the accident, then you may be able to seek additional legal damages in a third party case. Successfully litigating a third party case involves a thorough knowledge of state and federal labor laws, as well as a business and personal injury law background – knowledge that usually only a qualified attorney possesses.
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If you or a family member has been injured in a construction accident, the first thing you need is reliable legal advice. At the law firm of Siegfried & Jensen, our construction accident attorneys have extensive experience handling claims involving work-related injuries. Contact our Salt Lake City, Utah-area law firm today for a free, no-obligation case evaluation.
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