Amazon Warehouse Work Injury Attorneys in Atlanta
The Atlanta area is home to one of eight fulfillment centers opened by Amazon in recent years. While these facilities have given thousands of families a source of income, it hasn’t come without a price: workplace injuries. Those who are temporarily or permanently disabled because of accidents on the job may obtain workers compensation benefits. However, Amazon is notorious for fighting payouts to save on rising insurance costs from these incidents. If you have experienced an Amazon Warehouse work injury in or near Atlanta, you must follow Georgia law throughout the claim process. Trust The Law Offices of Darwin F. Johnson and our experienced warehouse work injury attorneys to protect your rights and get the long-term benefits you need.
What Should I Do If I’m Injured at Work?
It doesn’t matter if you have only been on the job for a few days or permanent employee. If you get hurt while working at Amazon or in any Atlanta warehouse setting, follow the below steps:
Seek medical attention right away.
After suffering an injury at work, it’s critical you get treated right away. Delaying care or trying to finish your shift could cause complications with even more devastating effects on your body. This step can establish evidence of your injuries, which could include x-rays, CT scans, photographs, and doctor’s notes.
Notify your employer of your accident.
When you are able, you need to let your employer know what happened in writing. This could be an email to a supervisor, manager, or HR representative. Let them know that you need to start a worker’s compensation claim. While the state of Georgia allows a year to file with the state board of worker’s compensation, any delay can impact your case.
Follow your doctor’s orders and maintain recommended treatment.
Companies like Amazon use a specific list of doctors that they want their injured employees to visit. If this is the case in your situation, make sure to visit that physician when seeking care. Remember that you can see your own doctor, but you still need to visit the company-approved physician their insurance insists on.
Consult an Atlanta workers compensation attorney.
While you may not feel you need a worker’s compensation attorney in Cobb County right after getting hurt, be prepared to do so anyway. Amazon may decide that they aren’t liable for your injury or try to insist you come back before you are ready. This company is well-known for caring more about its profits than employees. If there is any way for them to minimize or outright deny your injury claim, they will find a way.
If you feel pressured to settle early, the severity of your injuries is doubted, or you worry you’ll lose your job, call an attorney immediately. The Darwin F. Johnson Law Firm has years of experience dealing with these high-pressure tactics and can help stop them.
Keep track of all evidence and documentation.
Atlanta warehouse workers who get injured at work aren’t required to prove fault to receive workers’ compensation. This doesn’t mean you don’t need evidence and documentation regarding the circumstances of your injuries or medical records establishing severity. Showing your condition was due to work and not a pre-existing condition is crucial.
Any paperwork you receive from Amazon, their insurer, the treating physicians handling your care, and medical billing should be kept. Often, the most frequent avenue of denying an injured worker claim lacking proof it happened on the job. Another important piece of evidence is a witness statement from those who saw what happened. Make sure you or your attorney from The Law Offices of Darwin F. Johnson get these accounts documented.
What is Amazon’s Workers Compensation Benefits?
Many circumstances in a warehouse environment can lead to employees getting injured at work. Amazon employees often face falling boxes inside the semi-truck trailers they unload. Dangerous moving equipment in sort centers like forklifts, conveyor belts, and motorized pallet jacks lead to hundreds of injuries every year.
In situations where a worker gets hurt, Georgia law allows them to seek financial compensation for associated damages.
- Medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Cost of travel to doctor appointments
- Vocational rehabilitation and training
- Fees related to a sustained disability
- Funeral and burial costs due to a fatal work accident
You should also know that even if you were responsible in any way for your accident, you might still qualify for benefits. At The Law Offices of Darwin F. Johnson, we help warehouse employees throughout Cobb County, Georgia, successfully obtain workers compensation. This includes assistance in pursuing disability, rehabilitation, and medical coverage for qualifying injuries. Choosing our firm is a critical first step in protecting your rights and not letting your employer take advantage of your situation.
Common Causes of Warehouse Injuries
Amazon warehouses brand themselves as families of workers who enjoy competitiveness and fun in the workplace while being safe. This mentality creates an environment full of risk and danger when teams try to outcompete each other in fulfilling orders. Many employees may push their bodies beyond the breaking point for weeks during peak seasons like the holidays when customer orders get backlogged. Even though warehouses might offer bonus pay, the extra amounts earned pale to the cost of sustained injuries.
Regular warehouse duties that lead to workers getting injured at work include:
- Repetitive motions including lifting, pushing, bending, and pulling
- Climbing ladders
- Unpacking products
- Unloading and loading tractor trailers
- Forklift driving and working around
- Sorting and packaging orders
- Moving heavy items
- Working with conveyor belts
- Loading and unloading pallets
- Using a pallet jack
- Standing in one position for hours at a time
If you suffered an injury while performing warehouse duties, know that you have rights. With the help of The Law Offices of Darwin F. Johnson, we can assist you in building a claim for worker’s compensation benefits.
The Known Dangers of Working at Amazon
It is a known fact that warehouse work is often strenuous and physically demanding. Amazon fulfillment centers are no exception, but this doesn’t mean poor working conditions or dangerous situations are acceptable. Places like Amazon operate in such a way that getting injured at work is almost guaranteed. At some point in their careers, employees’ bodies can no longer take the strain.
Standing in one spot for hours on end to repetitive bending and lifting of products hurts warehouse workers. When you add in quotas marketed as team competitions, it’s easy to forget how unsafe these practices are. As a customer-centric company, Amazon needs its products to hit customers’ doorsteps fast. But their process is detrimental to your health as an employee. You may have received training on how to lift and perform other tasks safely, but this means taking longer to do the job. Quotas get missed, and one’s job is at risk. This breeds an environment of workers having to push themselves past the limits of safety to meet demand.
The National Council for Occupational Health and Safety ranked Amazon as one of the companies on the “Dirty Dozen” list in 2018. It gave the company a dishonorable mention for 2020. This annual compilation cites companies that risk employee health and safety by using unsafe work practices. Since 2013, eight employees have lost their lives while working in an Amazon facility, and another 14,000 reported serious injuries from 2016 – 2019.
Does Amazon Make It Hard for Atlanta Employees to Receive Workers Compensation?
Georgia law makes it clear that all workers who get injured at work are entitled to filing a workers compensation claim. There are limited exceptions to this rule, but Amazon warehouse workers seem to face more obstacles to benefits than most.
The primary challenge is getting an accident report when a warehouse work injury happens. This distribution giant has repeatedly been caught failing to report workplace injuries of its employees. When employees cannot get the documentation needed for their insurance, filing a claim gets difficult.
Another issue is Amazon disputing employee workers compensation claims. While the distributor isn’t the only company guilty of it, it still highlights their unwillingness to ensure employee health and safety. Their primary reason for minimizing or outright denying coverage is to help keep their premiums down and make their accident numbers lower. If you are in this situation after getting hurt at work, you need to speak with a worker’s compensation attorney right away.
How Can Darwin F. Johnson Help My Cobb County Workers Compensation Claim?
If you or a family member recently suffered a work injury while working for Amazon, you are entitled to workers comp benefits. Protect your rights and legal interests by consulting with a knowledgeable Atlanta area workers compensation attorneys. Don’t lose hope if you’ve received a dispute for an already filed claim or gotten denied. For companies, injury claims are expensive, and they will use any reason to save money, even if it means at the cost of your health.
The skilled attorneys of The Law Offices of Darwin F. Johnson have years of experience representing families throughout Atlanta and Cobb County, GA. You can trust our legal team to fight for the workers compensation settlement that is just and fair for your circumstances. Call us to set up your free consultation at (404) 882-9237 or contact us online to schedule an appointment today.
