Recently in Workers' Compensation Category

Workers at a gun range in Washington state are suing their employer over allegedly harmful lead exposure.

A lot of rounds are shot off at gun ranges. But you may have wondered what happens to all those spent bullets and shell casings which are often made of lead.

Some workers at Wade's Eastside Guns in Bellevue say they dug large holes at the gun range to bury the spent bullets and lead. When it rained, the workers claim to have been exposed to toxins, Seattle's KING-TV reports.

You may think you need a lawyer for any injury or accident. But do you need a lawyer for a workers' compensation case?

The whole point of having a workers' compensation system to handle workplace injuries is to remove these cases from the civil tort system, reports CFO.com.

Yet lawyers are often involved in workers' comp cases, and some corporate managers suggest that this is leading to unnecessary delay and expenses. Injured workers, however, may beg to differ.

A recent study revealed that workers who do not receive paid sick leave are more likely to get injured at work.

The study's findings should not be that surprising as you're likely to be unfocused and distracted when you are sick.

Still, as more employees lose their rights to paid time off, more workers are taking the risk by working sick so that they will not lose any pay. But if you get injured at work, can you blame your employer and sue for not giving you paid time off?

Disneyland can expect a lawsuit from former employee, Imane Boudlal, for their alleged refusal to let her wear her hijab, a Muslim head scarf, in front of customers.

Boudlal worked at 'the happiest place on earth' in California for two and a half years until late 2010. When she began wearing her hijab to work, management told her to take it off, work where customers couldn't see her, or go home.

That was two years ago. After the incident Boudlal filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Last week they sent her a 'notice of right-to-sue.'

Does the tragic 2010 death of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau mark the end of the theme park's famous orca stunts? The SeaWorld death not only shocked the audience on hand, it also shed light on some of the park's safety violations.

SeaWorld operates parks in Florida, Texas and California. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) filed a citation against the company after a six-month investigation into its orca program, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

The investigation was launched after Brancheau, a veteran trainer, was pulled underwater by a killer whale named Tilikum at SeaWorld Orlando during a live show. Tilikum had grabbed a hold of Brancheau's ponytail, dragging her underwater. Brancheau drowned.

An elevator mechanic who was injured during the construction of a San Rafael, California hotel was awarded $11.7 million by a Marin County jury after three days of deliberation. The injuries happened three years ago. David Travis sued Bison Builders for failing to maintain a safe work environment.

According to Travis, the Extended Stay hotel construction site was in violation of California clearance laws. Travis was required to carry heavy tools and parts under the scaffolding, which caused him to hit his head a number of times and suffer herniated discs, which compressed his spinal cord. According to testimony in the trial, Travis was nearly paralyzed, the Marin Independent Journal reports.

There is again more news from the site of the mine explosion at the Massey Energy Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia. On August 9, investigators confirmed that the methane monitors at the scene of the April 5 mine explosion had not been tampered with.

The methane monitors were taken from what is known as a longwall mining machine. The monitors are designed to shut down the mining machines when they detect levels of methane gas that could be explosive, according to a report by the Associated Press. The investigation followed claims by Massey employees that the monitors were sometimes rigged to keep running despite high readings.

A lawsuit, surely to be the first of many stemming from the April 5 explosion at the Massey Upper Big Branch coal mine, was filed on April 15. A widow of one of the 29 miners who lost their lives in the blast has sued Massey Energy and its operating subsidiary, Performance Coal, for the wrongful death of her husband.

West Virginia Governor Gov. Joe Manchin has appointed the Clinton Administration U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration chief, J. Davitt McAteer, to head an independent investigation of the explosion at the Massey Energy Upper Big Branch coal mine. The death toll from the explosion in that mine now stands at 29. In reports, McAteer has already been critical of current safety standards and the lack of transparency by government and mine officials when dealing with safety regulations.

The questions over safety standards at the Massey Energy Corporation's Upper Big Branch coal mine have begun. By April 7, it was reported that the company had been cited for 600 safety violations in less than a year and a half. Some of these violations were in connection with the failure to properly ventilate methane, the gas thought responsible for this week's massive explosion.