Amazon Workers With Repetitive Stress Injuries
Chicago Lawyers Helping Employees Seek Compensation
While the prospect of working at Amazon may appear enticing, the pace required to select, pack and ship customer orders can be extremely taxing. Additionally, the work at a fulfillment center can be repetitive, placing repeated and demanding pressure on muscles and tendons. Accordingly, Amazon workers with repetitive stress injuries are not uncommon. If you suffered a repetitive stress injury while working at an Amazon warehouse, the Chicago workers’ compensation attorneys at Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca can represent you throughout the workers’ compensation claim process.
Amazon Workers with Repetitive Stress Injuries
Employees may develop different types of repetitive stress injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis and bursitis, by engaging in the same motion throughout the workday. Repetitive stress injuries may result from a range of work conditions including computer use, heavy lifting, use of power tools, and driving. Repetitive stress injuries can be treated with rest, icing, compression and elevation, along with anti-inflammatories or a steroid injection, as well as a splint or wrap.
If you suffer a repetitive stress injury that is related to your work at Amazon, you should be able to obtain workers’ compensation benefits, such as medical care to treat the injury and time off work as needed to recover. Medical benefits are available for any reasonable and necessary medical treatment. While some repetitive stress injuries require only a few days of rest and over-the-counter medication, others may require more intensive medical intervention. Your physician may recommend physical therapy to relieve pain or as part of the rehabilitation process. In some cases, when other treatments do not help, you may need to undergo surgery to address your tendon or nerve injury. If the company disputes the extent of your injury or challenges the treatment prescribed by your doctor, you may need to consult with a workers’ compensation lawyer to obtain all the benefits to which you are entitled.
Medical Benefits for Amazon Workers with Repetitive Stress Injuries
You are entitled to two choices of doctors if your employer belongs to a preferred provider network. However, you can also visit any specialists referred by your treating doctors. For instance, if you choose a doctor from the network who thinks you would benefit from seeing a specialist, she can refer you to that specialist, and it will not count as your second choice. You will still be able to choose a different doctor as your second choice. If you decide you don’t want to see a doctor that is in your network, Amazon’s insurer will only pay for a single choice.
Disability Benefits
Sometimes repetitive stress injuries leave a worker disabled. If you cannot work at Amazon for several weeks due to a repetitive stress injury, you may be able to recover temporary total disability benefits. These benefits are paid at 2/3 your average weekly wage prior to injury. You cannot receive these benefits until you have been off work for more than 3 days. However, if you are off work for 14 or more days because of your repetitive stress injury, you can retroactively receive benefits for the first three days.
In some cases, you may be able to return to work with light duty or modified job tasks. If you are paid less, you may be able to obtain temporary partial disability benefits. Permanent total disability benefits and permanent partial disability benefits are also available as needed.
Vocational Rehabilitation
While a repetitive stress injury may initially appear minor, it can prove to be seriously disabling when medical treatment is unsuccessful. If you can no longer work at the same job and think there may be other types of work you can do, you may be able to seek and obtain vocational rehabilitation. You are entitled to vocational rehabilitation if you sustained a work-related injury that causes a reduction in your earning power and there’s evidence vocational rehabilitation would increase your earning capacity. Amazon’s insurer may ask that you engage in a job search and show that your job search was unsuccessful before offering vocational rehabilitation.
Hire an Experienced Attorney in Chicago
If you are an Amazon worker who suffers a repetitive stress injury on the job in Chicago, you should talk to the seasoned lawyers of Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca. Our firm represents injured Amazon workers in Aurora, Quincy, Champaign, and Rockford, along with Winnebago, Cook, Adams, Sangamon, and Kane Counties. Call us at 312-724-5846 or complete our online form.