Alabama Workers Compensation Law Why You Should Care

Alabama Workers Compensation Law Why You Should Care

Alabama Workers Compensation Law Why You Should Care: Recent news reports and government studies have shown how workers compensation benefits have been repeatedly cut in the past few years, as States sacrifice the health and wealth of injured workers in hope of getting more business to their State in a never ending “Race to the Bottom.” According to these studies, Alabama ranks at the bottom when it comes to workers compensation benefits.

For several years, several workers compensation law firms (including Powell and Denny) have been working with the Alabama Association of Justice in an attempt to get the attention of the Alabama Legislature, but apparently the plight of Alabama workers isn’t as important the wish list of businesses. In my opinion, a large part of the problem is that voters are not demanding meaning change, and they aren’t doing it because they fail to see how a more just workers compensation system in Alabama affects them, unless they or a family member has had to go through a workers compensation claim.

So how does Alabama’s antiquated workers compensation laws affect uninjured Alabama workers? Let’s take a look.

According to a recent OSHA report, “[e]mployers provide just 20 percent of the overall financial cost of workplace injuries and illnesses throughout workers compensation….As a result, taxpayers are subsidizing the vast majority of income and medical care costs of injured workers.”

A report in the Washington Post stated it thusly: “Somebody ends up paying for those injuries…taxpayers. When a worker ends up unable to work because of an injury, he or she can be covered by Social Security Disability Insurance, a program that has steadily increased in cost over the past two decades. The rise has many demographic factors behind it, but it looks like the abdication of responsibility by employers may have played a role as well.”

At the same time, workers compensation premiums are at their lowest rate in 30 years and profits for workers compensation insurance carriers are higher than any other form of insurance other than automotive insurance.

Moreover, according to a Department of Labor report, less than 40 percent of workers who are eligible to apply for workers compensation following a job injury actually apply for it and workers who suffer job injuries end up making an estimated 15% less over the following decade.

That is less money for the State to tax and less money for families to spend and help spur the economy. This also means more families slipping into poverty and more families needing government assistance-provided by Alabama tax payers.

We should all care about the woeful state of Alabama’s workers’ compensation laws.

If you suffered a work injury and you have questions about your right to Alabama Workers Compensation benefits, don’t hesitate to contact and speak with one of the experienced Alabama Workers Comp Lawyers at Powell and Denny today.

Powell and Denny: We Work When You Can’t

Offices in Huntsville, AL and Hoover, AL

Powell and Denny have been selected as one of the Best Law Firms by U.S. News and World Report for each of the last 6 years, have been selected as one of Birmingham’s Top Lawyers by B-Metro Magazine for the last 3 years, have been selected by The National Advocates as one of the Top 20 Workers’ Compensation Firms (plaintiffs) and Powell and Denny, P.C.-has been selected as one of the “Best of the Best” law firms by The American Registry.

Mr. Denny is AV rated by Martindale Hubbard (the highest rating possible) and Mr. Powell has been rated as Superior by The National Registry

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Alabama Workers’ Compensation Law Why You Should Care