Injuries on Your Way to Work
If you get hurt on your way to or from work, your injuries may be covered by workers’ comp. Although, in general, injuries sustained by an employee while commuting to and from work are outside of the workers’ compensation coverage, there are some exceptions. In a recent decision of Hohlt v. University of Minnesota, the Minnesota Supreme Court held that a state employee was entitled to workers’ compensation benefits for the injuries she sustained when she slipped and fell on an ice-covered sidewalk curb ramp while walking to her car after work. The fact that she was not on the... Read More
Becoming Disabled After a Work Injury
When your work-related injuries or illness are too severe to go back to work, you have several options to replace your lost income. You could consider permanent total disability through work comp, long term disability through a STD/LTD insurer, and Social Security Disability Insurance. At Farrish Johnson Law Office, we routinely help our clients with their disability cases. If you are considering going on disability, give us a call to get more information about your options. As mentioned above, when you are at the point where you do not think you could go back to work in the foreseeable future... Read More
America’s 10 Most Dangerous Occupations and How Work-Related Fatalities are Treated by the Minnesota Workers’ Compensation System
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics December 16, 2016, Economic News Release, there were a total of 4,836 recorded work injuries that resulted in death in 2015, which amounted to an overall rate of fatalities of 3.38 per 100,000 full-time workers. While there are multiple contributing factors, like workers’ age, training and experience, based on the government statistics, your chances of getting killed on the job are much higher if you work in the following occupations: 1. Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations – 25.3 (deaths per 100,000 workers) 2. Supervisors of construction and extraction workers – 16.1 3.... Read More
Your Workers’ Compensation Questions Answered
What happens when my doctor takes me off work or puts me on restrictions because of my work injury? The answer depends on your line of work and how bad your work injury is. When you get hurt, your doctor may decide that you should take some time off work or limit your work activities. For example, if you pull a muscle in your back or injure your shoulder, and your job requires you to do heavy lifting or use your arms a lot, your doctor will write a Report of Workability that will either order you to stay off... Read More
Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council Legislative Proposal
During its meeting on February 15, 2017, the Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council (WCAC) discussed a legislative proposal to add post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to the list of the presumptive occupational diseases covered under the workers’ compensation statute. The proposal comes from Senators Nick Frentz and Dan Schoen. Citing some statistics that show suicide rates for police officers and firefighters are more than double that of other occupations, as well as other environmental factors, such as a routine absence of choice of what dangers the police officers and firefighters are exposed to, the proposal would make PTSD a presumptive work-related... Read More
Farrish Johnson Law Office Welcomes New Attorney
Farrish Johnson Law Office is pleased to announce the addition of our new attorney, Yuri Jelokov. Yuri focuses his practice in the areas of workers’ compensation law, Social Security disability law, and vaccine claims. After obtaining his law degree from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, MN, Yuri spent several years practicing in Minneapolis, MN,as well as Bemidji, MN. Yuri has dedicated many hours to workers’ compensation litigation, from initial consultations, to settlement negotiations and trials. Yuri is actively involved in the Minnesota Association for Justice. A native of Tallinn, Estonia, Yuri speaks both English and Russian. For... Read More