OSHA Report Link Workplace Injuries to Income Inequality

Suffering a workplace injury often results in long-term financial troubles. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently released a report that suggests a link between suffering a workplace injury with long-term income inequality.

“For many injured workers and their families, a workplace injury creates a trap which leaves them less able to save for the future or to make the investments in skills and education that provide the opportunity for advancement,” the report reads. “These injuries and illnesses contribute to the pressing issue of income inequality: they force working families out of the middle class and into poverty, and keep the families of lower-wage workers from entering the middle class.

Work injuries hamper the ability of many working families to realize the American Dream.” Consider these statistics:

• • On average, injured workers earn $31,000 or 15 percent less in the decade following a workplace injury.

• • Families of injured workers and their private insurance companies shoulder 63 percent of costs related medical treatment and lost wages, compared to just 21 percent covered by the employer.

• • Fewer than 40 percent of eligible workers actually apply for the workers’ compensation benefits they’re due after suffering an injury or contracting and illness.

Don’t let a workplace injury or illness cause your family decades of financial stress. Call 800-251-1111 and sschedule a consultation with an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer with Jacksonville’s Harrell and Harrell.