Occupational diseases are a very serious part of workers’ compensation claims. They might not receive as much attention because of the nature of the disease. An occupational disease is an illness that was brought on by continuous hazards in the workplace. This as you can see is very different from a fall, or an auto accident or something similar where one second the employee is fine and the next he is injured.
Occupations can creep up sometimes over many years of being exposed to hazards that might not always be apparent. Anytime you suspect your illness or disease is caused by the environment in your job, it is extremely important to contact an experienced and local workers’ compensation attorney immediately. In occupational disease claims for workers comp, it is even more important to hire a local attorney since knowing the locality, community, and conditions of the job setting can make or break the case.
There are illnesses that fall under the occupational disease umbrella but some of the most common include:
- Asbestosis
- Asthma
- Black lung disease
- Bronchitis
- Cancer
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Eczema
- Hearing loss
- Tendonitis
- And many more
Some of these will be unique to certain industries like black lung which can occur in the manufacturing and mining of coal-related products, but others like Carpal Tunnel can occur in the least suspecting places like an office.
The side effects of occupation disease can affect the mind, emotions, stress, anxiety, cause pain and the underlying root cause is all from an employer not taking the proper precautions to protect his employees. And this is the core of all workers’ compensation cases, that an employer could have or should have taken certain steps, which they did not take. This is defined as negligence and the consequence was the deteriorating health of their employees.
It is also important to file claims for the workers’ compensation as soon as possible. First, because in New York state and many other states there are time limits on when you can make the claim. But also because the costs of caring for the diseases are not cheap, and only go up over time.
There are medical visit costs, pharmacy costs, transportation, missed work, pain, and suffering and the list goes on.
Often when an employee is hesitant or unsure of what steps to take they end up bearing the burden of these costs, at least up front. Action should be taken as soon as possible to discuss your case with a workers’ compensation lawyer to see what options there are to go forward, most of the time these consultations are free.
Most workers compensation lawyers, especially in Manhattan, NY operate on a contingency fee basis. This is to help encourage victims to come forward without fear or upfront costs with the uncertainty of what they will be compensated. Contingency fee lawyers only accept payment, when they win the case and take a percentage of the final compensation awarded.
If you live in or around Downtown Manhattan and suspect your illnesses were brought on through negligence in the workplace, let the most experienced workers compensation lawyers in the area help:
Gold & Fox NYC Workers Compensation Firm 77 Water street 7th Fl New York, NY 10005 (212) 301-0606 https://workerscompensationpro.com/
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