Truck drivers have the strenuous job of transporting goods across the country. They make sure supplied are delivered on time, load and unload heavy cargo, and spend hours behind the wheel. Because of this, the trucking industry can be a dangerous one, especially when you consider the auto accidents that happen on the road every day. Not only that, truck drivers are on the road for hours at a time. Often this causes drivers to lose sleep throughout the night. At the Law Offices of Charles H. Leo, P.A., we are experts in high risk occupations. We understand there are hazards that come with truck driving that can leave you with injury, health concerns, or worse.

Whether or not your health concerns or injuries are due to negligence, above all else the safety of the workers should come first. Have you been injured on the job? You may qualify for Workers’ Compensation in Orlando, Florida. Find out more by reading below.

Injuries Truck Drivers Face

There are many different kinds of affliction a truck driver faces on the job. The most obvious injuries will come from collisions with cars or other trucks. In these cases you can suffer from broken bones, which may take weeks or months to heal fully. Concussions cause vision issues as well as sensitivity to light and noise. Shoulder injuries and other strains lead to serious consequences that negatively affect your quality of life. Even worse, they affect your ability to find work in the future.

Because of their grueling schedule, truck drivers may not take the time to stretch regularly. This leads to sore muscles and tissue injuries. Sleep-deprived employees are also more likely to fall asleep at the wheel and cause life-threatening accidents.

When you are involved in an auto accident, truck drivers may also face Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. Those who have been subjected to a traumatic situation feel the consequences even long after the incident has happened.

Injured truck drivers can, and should, seek Workers’ Compensation by seeking help from an experienced attorney.  Jurisdiction is usually in the state where the accident occurred, and/or as stated in the contract. Here’s how to contact Leo Trial Group to get the process started today.

Seeking Workers’ Compensation for Truck Drivers

If you are a professional truck driver who has suffered due to injuries on the job, reach out and seek the services of the Law Offices of Charles H. Leo, P.A.. Charles Leo is a Workers’ Compensation attorney in Orlando who is Board Certified to help you with your case. We can negotiate a fair settlement specific to your situation.

Have you been put under pressure to meet a hard delivery deadline and drove dangerously on the highway, causing an unexpected accident? Injured workers can get paid for any medical treatments needed as well as lost wages.  We also handle negligently caused truck accidents.

It can get difficult and even complicated to understand what you are entitled to, including disability benefits or more. The Law Offices of Charles H. Leo, P.A. has helped thousands of workers seeking compensation in Orlando, Florida. Contact us today and we will help you get the benefits you deserve.

Workers compensation is an insurance that employers and business owners provide to their employees. It takes care of medical expenses, physical therapy and wages lost in the event of workers’ injury. Services of an Orlando workers’ compensation attorney will ensure the payment of these benefits in full, especially when the injured employee is in the dark about his or her rights.

This policy is absolutely necessary seeing as workplace accidents are inevitable no matter how well-equipped an organization is to avoid them. The severity and occurrence can only be minimized with proper care and safety measures but never completely eliminated due to the nature of some jobs and the nature of humans. However, safety measures at workplace go a long way at limiting the number of accidents and hazards at work.

Some industries, like the construction industry, are more prone to accidents than other industries. Such high-risk organizations need greater safety measures and compensation plans. On-the-job accidents and hazards can be as mild as a scratch or as severe as resulting in permanent damage, illness or even outright death. The advice of a worker’s compensation attorney in Orlando should be sought by workers in such industries.

Common Summer Workers’ Compensation Claims in Orlando

Most workplace accidents and consequent injuries and claims are higher during summer. Some of the common summer accidents occur in the construction industries including road and building construction, then boating, health and hospitality, farming, and landscaping industries.

Some of the common summer compensation claims by Orlando workers include:

• Slip and Fall Accidents. This can affect workers across many industries irrespective of whether it is an indoor or outdoor job. The injuries can be mild or severe resulting in broken bones, lacerations, internal and external injuries, including brain injury.
• Vehicle Accidents. Summer is often packed with tourists causing higher vehicular movement on land and sea.  At times, injuries from transportation accidents are fatal and most outdoor workers are exposed to it.
• Occupational illnesses are contracted in the course of the job due to the nature of the job. This is prevalent in chemical industries and hospitals.
• Heat and chemical burns can occur in thermal, chemical and electrical forms.

The Florida Workers Compensation Laws stipulate certain entitlements for workers who sustain an injury on the job. These include medical care and treatment, payment for lost wages, reimbursement of travel expenses incurred in the process of treatment, disability payments and benefits, and job retraining.  

If a worker in Orlando sustains an injury at work, there is Workers’ compensation designed to cater to the benefits of that injured worker. These benefits can take care of lost wages and medical bills. An Orlando workers’ compensation attorney will be in a better place to tackle these legal battles and ensure that the employer gets his/her full benefits.

There are workers’ compensation attorneys in Orlando that a worker can approach to help claim these benefits. But first of all, the injured employee must report the accident to the employer as soon as possible, definitely not more than 30 days after the accident.

Nice to see the City of Orlando finally have to pay my client over $230k, after trial victory was upheld on appeal!!

Another big six-figure trial win for one of our client’s in Marion County! We recovered lost wages, disability benefits and payment for medical bills. I was happy to help this injured tree worker receive the compensation she deserved! I am not afraid to take a case to trial and welcome the opportunity if necessary to secure the maximum recovery.  Of the 100,000 lawyers in Florida…Only 187 of us are Board Certified in Worker’s Compensation Law. Call me if you have been injured on the job, the Consultation is always Free. 407-839-1160.

Potentially Dangerous Jobs For Teens

Many parents this summer will encourage their teenage sons and daughters to seek temporary summer jobs for extra income and valuable life skills. However, these seemingly harmless summer jobs are known by many an Orlando workers compensation attorneys to be the most dangerous. According to the National Consumers League, a teen is injured at work every 9 minutes, and a child employee in the US dies as often as every 14 days. Youthful and inexperienced, teenage employees are often left to perform tasks that more experienced professionals avoid for obvious safety reasons.

Hazardous Jobs for Minors

The chief causes of workplace injuries for teens involved heavy machinery, falls, and exposure to chemicals. Sadly, without consulting with an Orlando workers compensation attorney many young workers are unaware of their rights in the workplace or the enormous risks present in many worksites. The most dangerous jobs for teenage workers, including the highest rates of serious injury and accidental death, were found in these common fields:

• Agriculture
• Construction
• Landscaping
• Traveling Sales

Minors Hiring Workers Compensation Attorney in Orlando

Florida statutes on workers compensation are very clear and even more protections are added to ensure the well being of minors in employment. An Orlando workers compensation attorney will usually only have 2 years to file a claim before reaching a statute of limitations. However, when the injured employee is a minor, the time can be extended until that employee is of age. Furthermore, Florida statute §440.54 specifies drastically serious penalties for employers who are found in violation of child labor laws when a minor is injured. The employer, not the insurer, can be held responsible for as much as double the compensation costs.

The crucial difference between this situation compared to when an adult files are the calculation of long-term benefits. A slight injury that is healed within a few months can be quickly compensated, but if a minor is permanently disabled then he or she is entitled to the full potential of lost wages. Unlike adults, whose compensation would be adjusted according to their current wages, the “future earning capacity” of a minor over the course of a lifetime is more difficult to ascertain and exorbitantly higher in cost. Clearly, the wages one was earning in a part-time summer job would not accurately reflect the eventual income of what one would have earned had an injury not prevented the normal completion of school and an established career. The duty of an Orlando workers compensation attorney is to emphasize the full extent of damages when an employee is injured so early in life. 

How to Stay Safe

The best protection that teenage employees can use when starting a summer job is a full and complete understanding of their rights under the law. Minors are limited in the type of work and the hours they can be expected to work. Any workers compensation attorney in Orlando will encourage a young employee to refuse any work that seems hazardous, offers poor safety training, or requires travel or long periods free of adult supervision.