A Serious Accident for an Indian Flight Attendant Serves as a Reminder of the Risks that Flight Crews Face Here in Illinois

The job of a flight attendant carries with it many unique rewards. It is also very demanding and carries with it a significant risk of workplace injury. There are numerous different ways that a flight attendant can be hurt at work. Depending on the specific facts of your injury, you may be entitled to certain forms of compensation, such as workers’ compensation benefits and/or damages in a civil lawsuit as compensation for the harm you suffered. To find out more about your legal rights and options in the event you suffer an injury while performing the duties of your flight attendant job, talk to a skilled Chicago injury attorney about your situation.

Sometimes, some of the injuries that befall flight attendants can be highly unusual, but no less harmful. Business Insider reported on 53-year-old H.L., who was a flight attendant for a major airline based in India. One day, while working to close the rear door of a Boeing-777 jumbo jet as the airplane pushed back from a gate at the Mumbai airport, the flight attendant fell out of the open door and landed on the tarmac below. Generally, the rear door of a 777 is somewhere between 17.5 and 18 feet off the ground. The fall caused the flight attendant to suffer a broken leg. She also suffered “soft tissue injuries to her chest, abdomen and lower spine,” according to reports.

Certainly, incidents of flight attendants suffering injuries in Illinois due to their falling out of planes are rare. Flight attendants more frequently suffer work-related injuries due to events like mid-flight turbulence that cause herniated discs or other back injuries, shoulder damage from lifting a passenger’s baggage or wrist/arm injuries related to operating the beverage cart. Regardless of whether you hurt your back lifting a carry-on bag or broke your leg falling out of a plane, you have options if you’re hurt in Illinois working as a flight attendant.

For one thing, you can file a claim for workers’ compensation benefits. To qualify for Illinois workers’ compensation benefits, you need certain proof that allows you to seek benefits in Illinois. This can include proof that your injury took place in Illinois, that your employer hired you in Illinois or that your work is primarily based in Illinois. In the Indian flight attendant’s case, she was hired in India, was based in India and was hurt in India. If, however, some of the facts had been different – say, the flight attendant had been a United or American Airlines employee instead of an Air India employee and had been hired in Chicago or had her work based primarily out of O’Hare Airport – then she might have a claim for Illinois workers’ compensation benefits even if her accident happened in Mumbai.

If you succeed in proving one or more of the above things and that the accident you suffered was in “the course and scope of your employment,” then you can obtain compensation. This “course and scope of employment” requirement does not mean that you have to have been in flight to recover benefits. Some others events that are necessarily related to the performance of your job may meet this requirement, as well. For example, if you suffer an injury during a flight layover, that may potentially still trigger a valid claim for workers’ compensation benefits.

Flight attendants and airline crews face many risks of injury at work. If that happens to you, be sure to take the action you need to get the outcome you deserve. The diligent Chicago injury attorneys at Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca. have, for many years, been providing strong advocacy that gets results. To set up a free case evaluation, contact us at 312-724-5846 or through our website.

More Blog Posts:

Flight Attendants: Did your Tumi bag contribute to your injury?, Chicago Injury Attorneys Blog, Sept. 5, 2018

A Flight Attendant’s Broken Leg from an Uncontrolled Beverage Cart is Just the Latest Reminder of the Potential Dangers in the Air, Chicago Injury Attorneys Blog, Aug. 24, 2018