Walk It Through: The Fall At The Warehouse
A ladder, a written notice, a claim within six months, and a firing while off work.
A worker falls from a ladder and breaks a wrist on the job.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One broken wrist. A permanent disability award, a claim the insurer denies, occupational lung disease and a suit against a third party are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Compensable injuryAn injury covered by workers' compensation, claimed on an application filed within six months after the injury.
- Separate dischargeable offenseMisconduct by an injured employee wholly unrelated to the injury or the absence from it, the only ground for firing a worker off on temporary total disability.
- Temporary total disabilityThe benefit paid while an injured worker cannot work at all because of a compensable injury, during which the employer may not fire the worker except for unrelated misconduct.