Man Sues After Being Fired For On-The-Job Injury

A man has filed a lawsuit against his former employer after he says he was fired after acquiring an on-the-job injury. The man worked as a mechanic for the North Myrtle Beach city government for over 36 years before he was unceremoniously released by the company. He is suing for workers’ compensation retaliation, defamation, and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

This is the fourth lawsuit filed against Myrtle Beach this year involving employment violations. One would wonder, if they can’t get the government to follow the basic rules set forth under the law, then how can they expect the private sector to do the same? Interestingly, the private sector is under more pressure to conform to the law than the government. In this case, no one’s company is going to be paying out a multi-million dollar settlement to the victim. It will be the taxpayers. So there’s no accountability when it comes to these positions. Someone gets run out of their position, and someone else takes over in their stead.

The injury 

According to the suit, the plaintiff suffered a “traumatic fall” while donating blood at a work-sponsored event. The injury left him with several broken bones and a broken ankle that required him to be off his feet. His injury and the following surgeries put him out of work for six months. The worker filed a workers’ compensation claim and the insurer processed the claim without an issue. However, later in the process, the insurance carrier refused to cover the employee’s medical expenses, and began the process of fighting the claim. So the employee hired a workers’ compensation attorney to fight for his money. In 2019, the worker returned to his job with accommodations for injuries he suffered that day. A year later, the worker was placed on unpaid administrative leave.

Another element of this case involves allegations made by a fellow employee after that employee was written up for looking at pornography while on the clock. At the time, the injured employee was Superintendent. This employee began making allegations that the injured employee was sleeping on the job, drunk on the job, brandishing knives at work, and other incidences that had no record of ever happening.

The injured employee believes that the City used the complaints filed by two underlings to kill his workers’ compensation claim. Among the claims made against the employee were that he was using and dealing drugs on the job. That has become the subject of the defamation claims against his employer.

What happened? 

The City probably just moved the old guy out so that they could move someone else in. The insurer got wind that two employees were badmouthing him and used that as a pretense to make his claim as difficult as possible to win. Meanwhile, his employer is playing along with their allegations because it benefits them to do so.

Talk to a Miami Workers’ Compensation Attorney Today 

This is a cautionary tale to all those who are injured on the job. Even a 36-year veteran of a government employer can face an uphill battle getting their benefits after a workplace injury. Call the Miami workers’ compensation lawyers at Payer Law today and we can prevent needless frustration.

Resource:

myrtlebeachonline.com/news/politics-government/article253414200.html