NAGE Goes to Mat for Injured Member in Workers Comp Case
June 10, 2008
Seventy-five days after Unit 3 member Tim Smith was injured in a high voltage accident on the job, the state has finally approved his workers compensation claim, returned him to the payroll, and agreed to make him whole for time off he was forced to take unpaid.
Following the March 27, 2008, accident, Tim was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Many people in his worksite building saw or heard the explosion. Alarms were set off, and several floors of the building were evacuated. Despite the seriousness of the accident and the critical nature of Tim's injuries, his employer denied his workers comp claim on the grounds that "there [was] no personal injury" and "no injury arising out of the course of employment." To add insult to his literal injury, Tim was also removed from the payroll and denied the right to use any of the paid leave time he had accrued in his 21 years of state service.
Although the fight to urge Tim's employer to act decently and fairly began immediately after the accident, the wheels really started turning on Friday, June 6th, when Unit 3 President Leo Munroe made a call to HR Director Paul Dietl's office. President Munroe wanted to describe to him the seriousness of the accident and explain how preventable it could have been, had the state been following OSHA or any other nationally recognized safety standards. He wanted to describe the toll the injury had taken on Tim and the mounting medical bills that were being left unpaid because his workers comp claim had been denied.
A meeting was arranged for Tuesday, June 10th.
"Director Dietl was very concerned about Tim and acted quickly once he found out about the accident and the run-around Tim was getting from his employer," said Munroe. "He clearly understood the seriousness of what happened and wants to make sure that nothing like this happens again to any other worker."
State Director Kevin Preston also got involved in the case and on Monday, wrote a letterto Dietl and DOS Commissioner Laura Marlin roundly criticizing the shabby treatment Tim received and drawing renewed attention to the haphazard safety standards employed by the state.
"This was a preventable accident," Preston said. "We've been battling the Patrick Administration for 18 months now to urge the state to adopt federal OSHA standards for state workers so these types of serious incidents can be avoided. It's unbelievable that the Administration continues to refuse to instruct its managers to comply with nationally recognized safety standards. How many more accidents is it going to take?"
Although the OSHA issue remains today, Dietl has agreed to meet with the union to discuss workers compensation procedures to avoid the stalling and claim denials experienced by Tim Smith.