Is Your Work Slowly Disabling You?
U sually, you know when you’ve been injured on the job. If you take a bad fall or get hurt by a piece of machinery, you seek medical attention. If the injury was caused by someone’s negligence, you seek legal aid. But many workers can also suffer a pernicious type of injury that often goes untreated and uncompensated: Repetitive Stress Injuries. Repetitive Stress Injury, or RSI, is a catch-all term for discrete conditions caused by repetitive tasks, forceful exertions, vibrations, mechanical compression, or sustained and awkward positions. The most common RSI are musculoskeletal disorders, like carpal tunnel syndrome and tendonitis. A study by the Journal of Applied Psychology found these disorders are the third most common cause of disability and early retirement in the U.S. Many workers don’t know they can be compensated for these sorts of injuries. Many jobs, from typing to upholstery, expose you to repetitive tasks that can cause bone and muscle damage over time. If you have an ailment you believe is being caused by conditions or activity at work, contact Bob Bollinger for advice about how to choose and then approach an appropriate medical doctor about your condition. Often, a doctor can confirm whether your pain is work related and set you on the path to recovery. This
may entail taking time off of work. Keep track of any lost wages caused by recovering from such an injury. While these injuries can be painful and debilitating, insurance companies rarely ever compensate for them willingly. Because of the length of time many RSIs take to develop and their discrete nature, it’s easy for insurers to cast doubt on them. The medical causation standard required to win an on-the-job RSI condition is very tricky to navigate, so it is very important to get competent legal advice about it at the very beginning of the case, before you discuss it with a specialist doctor or report it to your employer. To minimize the chance that your RSI claim is denied immediately, you should discuss
the matter with a Certified Specialist lawyer such as Bob Bollinger before you take any action. He can offer case-specific information and advice that will maximize your chances of prevailing on the claim. If you were injured due to your work activities, we are prepared to advise you informally at no cost to you, or to sign up as your lawyers to formally advocate for your rights and benefits in front of the Industrial Commission. To learn more about your rights under workers’ compensation laws in North Carolina, reach out to us. Contact The Bollinger Law Firm, PC, in Charlotte at 704- 377-7677 or toll free at 866-218-4759.
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I’ve been getting takeout from Best Wok for about 15 or 20 years. Always good. Very consistent. They always get our order right. My family likes their Sa Cha chicken, and the pork with black bean sauce is also good. The staff is friendly and accommodating of special requests. Love the place.
1717 Sardis Road North, Charlotte, NC 28270 In the Sardis Crossing Shopping Center!
The last red dogwood leaf of fall – Bob Bollinger
704-377-7677 • Toll-free: 1-866-326-3090 • 3
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