Injury at work lead me to be Terminated, what should I do?

💬 Advice Needed

I am a delivery driver for a company and I was going to start my day when I found out my van I use was at the shop.

My boss gave me a different van only for me to find out that it had all the caution lights on, the doors were mess up the windshield had a huge crack in it…I ultimately told him I didn’t feel comfortable using it and he told me to use it anyways. (I have pictures and documents saved)

Fast forward, It starts to rain and the breaks aren’t working, I crash into coming traffic and end up going to the hospital for two days.

I come back to work and they tell me they cant afford me on the insurance and they had to fire me. What should I do? How do I approach this? What type of Lawyer do I need?

in WorkReformby DenseSouth1936

336

99%

GhettoDuk

521

Work injury lawyer. That's the big claim here. They will bring in an employment lawyer to help with that part of the case.

Altruistic-Text3481

144

⛓️ Prison For Union Busters

Lawyer up. This is a good case. You will win.

Kiralyxak

Hell, a lawyer will probably take this pro-bono it's such a slam dunk.

Cultural_Double_422

They'll probably take it on contingency, not pro bono

Kiralyxak

Actually, yeah, more likely. I've only had pro bono when the case took like 10 minutes of actual court time (arguing a traffic ticket when a camera showed me not at fault). This will probably go longer.

FogellMcLovin77

144

Employment lawyer (broad, some are strictly corporate lawyers and others are strictly employee lawyers, etc.) or work-injury lawyer.

You should be able to get free consultations, but I wouldn’t be turned off by a $100 fee or more depending on your area.

Be sure to look up reviews, and make sure they have experience for best results.

Snoo-33147

Yeah. $100 might be the key to owning this company at this point. Fingers crossed for OP to do so.

2001Steel

For future reference. Employees have the right to refuse work that is unreasonably hazardous. The steps to take are to first, notify the employer of the hazardous conditions, explain that if the conditions are still present that you won’t work, and lastly if still being pressured, contact the nearest OSHA field office and tell them there is an imminent risk of injury and retaliation. They should send an inspector or try to talk things through over the phone.

These are your rights. People will say that OSHA won’t help, which is true if you don’t exercise your rights and demand action. Sitting by passively never resolved anything.

AlwaysRushesIn

With the recent move on Chevron by SCOTUS, OSHA may not be able to help without getting everything wrapped up to the Supreme Courts. And with SCOTUS' additional ruling on "Gratuities" paid to judges after ruling, it could just be a losing battle.

People don't seem to realize how serious all of this shit is, but I think OP's situation is the perfect highlight for potential situations people can find themselves in as a result of these rulings.

2001Steel

Yes - all of that is serious and should concern people. However, none of that matters in this situation. People should exercise their rights.

AlwaysRushesIn

Sorry, I wasn't trying to suggest all hope is lost and OP should give up. Only trying to express the complications that may be added so people can know to anticipate it.

DonaIdTrurnp

All that Chevron did was give agencies the right to force the court to use the agency interpretation of their regulations. It was an end run around the rulemaking process.

The four fishermen who couldn’t afford to pay the observers they had to carry didn’t have the rulemaking comment process on their requirement to pay the observer, because the rule that was proposed and adopted was only that they had to carry the observers. It was pure agency interpretation that created the tax.

MonkeyFlowerFace

Also, GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING.

glockops

Save all the evidence you have, make hard copies of it, also get it in the hands of your lawyer at another location. You were injured because of negligence, and fired as a result of injury. If the company can't afford insurance - you'll end up owning whatever assets they have remaining.

It sounds like they're desperate for cashflow and are making desperate decisions because the business is failing - there may not be assets to win in a courtcase. But there is definitely ample cause to get an attorney involved - you may also be able to make claims against their insurance (not health insurance, but other forms of business liability coverage) and possibly obtain assets directly from the owner (entirely depends on company structure).

Car accidents are long-term health events. My sister was in a bad accident and still suffers the effects of it decades later. Your company put you in a hazardous situation - so you need to be made whole and get enough money or enough support from them should injuries originating from your wreck surface at a later point in your life.

Crystalraf

🍁 Welcome to Costco, I Love You

lawyer

Baelyh

Definitely get a lawyer. If you have the documentation showing that they forced you to use that car even though you had expressed issues with all the functions of the car, and that same car. The brakes failed and you've got into an accident, that is super grounds for a lawsuit on its own. The fact that they fired you in retaliation, extra lawsuit. It would be different if you were recalcitrant in your due diligence of safety, but this was entirely on them.

redditsuckspokey1

I hope you take this subs advice. I want an update 3 months from now when the boss is forced to hand you the keys to the business and the $35 million in assets.

Erijandro

Celebrate for hitting the jackpot

Basker_wolf

A red flag here is the fact that the company can’t afford to insure you. If that’s true, I wouldn’t be surprised if they can’t make payroll in the near future.

2latenow2saysorrr

-4

Rub some dirt on it

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