Injured On The Job? How To Choose The Right Work Injury Lawyer In Orange County
Billboards, TV and radio commercials, bus benches.
Lawyer ads seem to be everywhere claiming to be the “best” if you get injured. But does a hefty advertising budget mean that a lawyer knows what they are doing in court?
If you are injured on the job beware of lawyers claiming to be the “best in town”. Here are four things worth considering when you are deciding on an Orange County lawyer to represent you for your work injury:
- Look For Actual Experience
It seems obvious, but having a lawyer who discusses your case with you personally, works on your case personally, and makes court appearances on your case personally makes a big difference in the outcome of your workers’ compensation case.
With over 30 years of experience handling workers’ compensation cases in Orange County and decades of awards and recognition by his fellow lawyers as a highly-skilled and ethical lawyer, Tom Martin doesn’t rely on nicknames, songs, or billboards everywhere you look. Instead, he limits his practice to only representing injured workers and getting the results each of his clients deserves and lets his work speak for itself – the vast majority of his clients come from “word of mouth”, the best advertising a lawyer can have.
- Do Past “Wins” Matter?
Yes. Like other lawyers, Mr. Martin has recovered tens of millions of dollars for his clients over the years, and that speaks to his skill going against the biggest employers and insurance companies in California.
But does his past successes on behalf of his clients mean that’s the only reason to retain him? No.
What really matters is what his strategy is to recover what you deserve in your case – because every case is different, and you and your injuries are unlike any other case.
Visit www.ThomasFMartin.com to see why Tom Martin’s personal attention to your case matters.
- Fees Based On Performance
Many lawyers charge by the hour no matter what the outcome of the case is. That’s not how Tom Martin gets paid for his work on your case.
His fee is 15% of the amount of the recovery for his client. This fee structure protects the injured worker because if there is no recovery there is no fee. With this fee structure, Mr. Martin is in the “same boat” as you – the goal is to secure the Award you are entitled to – no less.
- Do you get to talk with a lawyer, or just a ‘legal assistant”?
Mr. Martin personally appears in court for his clients every week. He’s busy representing his clients, securing the financial benefits and the medical treatment they are entitled to. The best work injury lawyers in Orange County aren’t shooting TV and radio ads, or coming up with catchy songs and nicknames – they are in the courtroom fighting for their clients.
Many workers’ compensation attorneys use paralegals to process cases, and non-lawyers to appear in court. Before you retain an attorney, find out who is actually going to work on your case. It matters. After all, if you’re going to hire a law firm, you deserve to have the lawyer handling your case!
Regarded by his peers as one of the best workers ’comp attorneys in Orange County, consider calling Thomas F. Martin, PLC at 714-547-5025.
Tesla Ordered To Pay $137 Million To Former Worker
Owen Diaz, a former Tesla employee who worked as an elevator operator at the company’s Fremont factory for nine months from 2015 to 2016, was recently awarded a $137 million settlement as compensation for the racial abuse he experienced during his tenure.
He was called racial epithets by coworkers, told to “go back to Africa”, and saw racist graffiti in the bathrooms. The jury found that Tesla had not taken reasonable steps to prevent racial harassment in the workplace.
The company’s lawyers stated the factory employed approximately 10,000 workers, many of whom were contractors hired through external staffing agencies. And so, they argued, there was no evidence that Tesla employees were directly responsible for the racial harassment.
Diaz’s attorneys brought three claims against Tesla:
1. The company subjected him to a racially hostile environment.
2. The company failed to provide a harassment-free workplace.
3. Tesla was negligent in its supervision of employees.
The jury sided with the plaintiff on all claims and ordered Tesla to pay Diaz $6.9 million in compensatory damages and $130 million in punitive damages — far above what his attorneys requested.
The eight jurors deliberated for four hours before reaching a decision.
Though Tesla has a practice of mandatory arbitration, the company’s reliance on contractors opened the door for the lawsuit. Because Diaz was a contractor himself, he never signed the company’s arbitration agreement and became the first worker to file a lawsuit against Tesla that went to a jury trial.
Tesla’s “Vice President of People” Valeria Capers Workman said, “The Tesla of 2015 and 2016 (when Mr. Diaz worked in the Fremont factory) is not the same as the Tesla of today.” She added, “We acknowledge that we still have work to do to ensure that every employee feels that they can bring their whole self to work at Tesla.”
The company has not said whether it plans to appeal the verdict. Tesla is facing a similar lawsuit in California state court from Marcus Vaughn and others, who allege Tesla created a hostile workplace for Black workers.
California Injured Workers Are Just 0.4% Of Hospital Stays CWCI Finds
According to research from the California Workers’ Compensation Institute (CWCI), injured worker hospitalizations fell to 17.2% in 2020, down from 47.2% in 2010. Over the past decade, the number of inpatient discharges in California have declined steadily, except for Medi-Cal.
The report compiled data on nearly 39.2 million inpatient stays from 2010 through 2020. Since 2010, workers’ compensation hospitalizations have represented the smallest share of hospital stays, just 0.4%.
Factors contributing to the decline in workers’ comp hospitalizations include the adoption of cost-cutting programs requiring treatment of injured workers to meet certain criteria not found in other provider systems. Consequently, taxpayers end up paying for treatment that the workers’ compensation insurance companies refuse to cover.
Under Governor Newsom’s leadership, many injured workers were treated via telemedicine and didn’t experience significant delays in receiving treatment. Thankfully, the vast majority of COVID-19 claimants only needed limited treatment, contrary to the insurance industry’s original predictions that the losses would be catastrophic.
2020 wasn’t a banner year for PROFITS for workers’ compensation insurers and business owners. Insurers took in less premium but also paid fewer claims, according to the Insurance Journal.
The reductions in both the losses and premiums created an 86% combined ratio for workers’ comp calendar year 2020. This would be the third-lowest combined ratio in history and the seventh consecutive year of underwriting gains, according to National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) director and actuary Vicky Mayen.
Meanwhile, as insurance company profits soar, many injured workers are struggling to get back to work due to delays in their medical treatment.
A very familiar story, unfortunately.
Three Charged In Workers’ Comp Insurance Fraud Costing More Than $5 Million
Three bay area men — Eric Andrew Oller, Brian Christopher Mitchell, and Yama Sekander — former owners of painting companies, were arraigned September 20th in an Oakland court on fraud charges filed by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and the California Department of Insurance (CDI).
Oller and Mitchell owned Walnut Creek-based Signature Painting and Construction Inc. and were each charged with one felony count of conspiracy to commit a crime, six counts each of felony insurance fraud, and two counts of workers’ compensation fraud.
The defendants used Valhalla Consulting and A-1 World Class Painting, businesses owned by Oller and Sekander, respectively, as a shell company to pay painting company employees from 2017-18. SPC misrepresented or omitted information about the company’s structure, misclassified employees, and underreported payroll costs to illegally reduce their workers’ compensation premium.
Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said, “If a business creates an environment where they falsely pay a lower insurance premium, that company has an unfair competitive advantage over one that is law-abiding.”
Mitchell and Oliver are also charged with entering into agreements to move employees from one company to another to reduce workers’ compensation costs. Authorities have accused Mitchell of using Sekander’s A-1 company to obtain a workers’ compensation policy for SPC.
SPC owners paid some employees under the table and instructed injured employees to report they worked for a different company, which allowed SPC to avoid paying and reporting the full amount of taxes owed.
Their scheme defrauded insurance carriers of more than $5 million since 2015. State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF) lost premium payments totaling $3.1 million and AmTrust lost about $1.9 million.
SCIF submitted a fraud referral against SPC in 2019 and authorities began their investigation. Crimes date back to 2015, according to authorities.
Charges were filed in late August and all three men have pleaded not guilty to the charges. The next court date is November 18.
Hourly Wages For California Garment Workers
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Senate Bill 62, which requires garment industry employers to pay workers an hourly wage instead of piece-rate compensation.
The new law applies to employers with 26 or more employees and ensures workers earn a minimum wage of $14 per hour. About 85% of garment workers earn two to six cents per piece, which works out to only $5.15 per hour.
According to the bill, some retailers and manufacturers tried to avoid liability for stolen wages by “adding layers of contracting between themselves and the employees manufacturing the garments,” according to the bill.
In a statement, Newsom said, “California is holding corporations accountable and recognizing the dignity and humanity of our workers, who have helped build the fifth-largest economy in the world.” He continued, “These measures protect marginalized low-wage workers, many of whom are women of color and immigrants, ensuring they are paid what they are due and improving workplace conditions. We are committed to having their backs as we work to build a stronger, more inclusive economy.”
The bill will revise existing law to, “make clear that a person contracting to have garments made is liable for unpaid wages, damages, penalties, and other compensation owed to workers who manufacture those garments regardless of how many layers of contracting that person may use.” The bill doesn’t prohibit local municipalities from enacting their additional protections for garment workers.
Whenever laws that protect workers are enacted, corporations are quick to claim they will be forced to leave California (apparently to exploit workers elsewhere in States that do not have robust worker protections). So, it’s not surprising that American Apparel and Footwear Association said the bill would “drive garment manufacturing out of California” and reduce garment-making jobs available in the state.
Los Angeles is the center of garment manufacturing in the US, with about 2,000 manufacturers employing more than 40,000 workers. Many small factories often operate without proper registration or enforcement, which increases the risk of exploitation in the industry.
This bill is a big step in the right direction. After all, protecting California workers is the right thing to do.
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Why is The California Workers’ Compensation System So Complicated?
California is consistently ranked as one of the most labor-friendly states in the country. Yet its workers’ compensation system remains so complicated that many workers find it difficult to get the benefits they need in a timely manner. What makes it so difficult to get workers’ compensation in California? Let us take a look.
Slow to Respond, Slow to Compensate
One of the biggest problems with California’s workers’ compensation system is that it is too slow to respond to the needs of injured workers. Injured workers are often made to wait for months – even years in some cases – before they can get the treatment and compensation they need.
The primary reason for the delay in getting workers’ compensation in California – according to the findings of a recently-conducted state audit – is the lack of qualified physicians within the system. Data shows that California has not increased the pay for qualified medical evaluators – who play a vital role in the workers’ compensation system – for more than 13 years.
The audit shows that between 2017 and 2018, California’s workers’ compensation program had a total of 2,800 medical evaluators. The total number of medical evaluation requests from injured workers during the same period of time, on the other hand, was over 100,000.
Hard to Navigate
Yet another reason why it is difficult to get workers’ compensation in California in a timely manner is that the system is hard to navigate for the average worker. The reason – according to experts – is that the people running the system are more concerned about procedural requirements and less concerned with the outcome. They have almost forgotten that their primary duty is to help the injured worker get better – not to delay the process for the flimsiest of reasons.
The Unintended Consequences of Delayed Care And Compensation
One of the most serious consequences of delayed care and compensation is that it increases the risk of permanent disabilities in injured workers. Especially, workers who suffer brain or spinal cord injuries cannot afford to wait for long, as the risk of permanent disability is extremely high in such cases.
How an Experienced Workers’ Compensation Attorney Can Help You
One of the best ways to expedite your claims process is to hire an experienced California workers’ compensation attorney who can guide you through the process and help you get the medical care and compensation you need.
An experienced attorney can easily spot the pitfalls and obstacles that can delay your claims process and take steps to expedite it to the highest extent possible. They can also make sure that you are not unfairly denied any of the rights and benefits you are entitled to under the law.
Looking to File for Workers’ Compensation in California? We Can Help You!
For over 25 years, attorney Thomas F. Martin has been providing high-quality, passionate legal representation for injured workers in California. Recognized as one of the best workers’ compensation attorneys in California, Mr. Martin has represented thousands of injured workers over the years and helped them get the compensation they deserve.
If you have suffered an injury on the job and are in need of a lawyer whom you can trust and rely on, attorney Thomas F. Martin is the right choice for you. To know how we can help maximize your workers’ compensation in California, call us at 714-547-5025 or contact us online for a free case evaluation.
Amazon: Double The Injuries Among Warehouse Workers
Amazon is in hot water again, as data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration showed the company’s warehouse workers are more likely to sustain work-related injuries than other warehouse workers in retail. For over three years now, Amazon has reported a higher rate of serious injury accidents that caused employees to miss work or be transferred to light-duty tasks, compared to non-Amazon retail warehouse workers. (more…)
$25 Million Workers’ Compensation Fraud Scheme
When employers cheat the workers’ compensation system, injured workers suffer.
While employer fraudsters are routinely being caught, some are cheating the system more than others. (more…)
Why The California Trucking Association Is Appealing AB 5
Yet another group is taking aim at AB 5: California Trucking Association (CTA). On April 28, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a lower court’s preliminary injunction that blocked enforcement of AB 5, which aims to reclassify independent contractors as employees. In response, CTA CEO Shawn Yadon said CTA will seek an “en banc” review by the full appellate court. (more…)
Signs Of Conflict On California’s Workers’ Comp Battleground
For over a century, California law has required employers to provide medical care and, if necessary, cash payments to workers suffering from job-related injuries and illnesses. This protection is called workers’ compensation, or workers’ comp. (more…)
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