Charlottesville Virginia Workers’ Compensation Hospitality Industry Accidents

The hospitality industry is a fast-paced environment and often places its workers at higher risk for job injuries.

Most commonly, workers in the hospitality industry suffer injuries from slips/falls, lifting injuries, cuts, and patron assaults.

Slip, Trip, and Fall Injuries

Slips, trips, and falls represent approximately 29% of all employee injuries.

Many fall injuries in the hospitality industry are due to common hazards, such as spilled beverages, placement of rugs, or missing steps while going up or down stairs. The issue with these types of falls is that, in Virginia, they may not be covered under workers’ compensation if the injury wasn’t caused by a risk that is specific to the workplace.

For example, in Virginia, a fall on stairs must be caused either by a defect in the stairs or by something related to the employment.  To be covered by Virginia workers’ compensation, the fall can’t have been caused by something that you could have fallen on in your home or at some other place outside of work.

Specifically, Virginia workers’ compensation rulings state that the injury must have been caused by something that is “peculiar to the work and not common to the neighborhood.”

Lifting and Handling Injuries

In the hospitality industry, lifting and handling injuries are the most prominent causes of back pain, neck pain, arm pain, and leg pain.  To be covered under Virginia workers’ compensation law, there must be sudden onset of pain, and the injury can’t be caused by cumulative or repetitive motion activities.

Cuts

For employees who work in food service, knives are often a common hazard.  Knives that are dull and are used with too much force cause cause nasty cuts.  These injuries can have a lasting impact on an employee’s ability to continue working.

Patron Assaults

Assaults on employees by patrons happen all too often in the hospitality industry.  Most recently, as the U.S. has relaxed its COVID restrictions, we’ve seen patrons and travelers showing aggression and hostility to hospitality industry workers.  These types of injuries are a risk of being employed in the hospitality industry and should be covered under workers’ compensation.

What A Charlottesville Virginia Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Will Do For You

If you are a hospitality industry worker in Virginia and were injured in a work accident, an experienced Virginia Workers’ Compensation lawyer will help you file a “Claim for Benefits” and gather all of the evidence about your injury.

What to Look For in a Charlottesville Virginia Workers’ Compensation Lawyer?

Injured in your job as a healthcare worker?  Is the insurance company giving you the run around?

Worried about paying your bills while you are recovering from your injury?

If these questions describe your concerns, you may need a Charlottesville Virginia Workers’ Compensation lawyer to help you make the best decisions for your case.

When choosing a lawyer, you should look for someone who specializes in Virginia Workers’ Compensation cases and who understands healthcare-related injuries.  A lawyer who usually handles criminal or divorce cases, wills and other legal matters will likely not have the depth of experience needed to maximize your workers’ comp claim.  An inexperienced lawyer may not be aware that pain and suffering isn’t included under Virginia workers’ compensation.

Our team of Virginia workers’ compensation attorneys at the Ritchie Law Firm has been successful in handling thousands of workers’ compensation claims over the past several decades.  We have won substantial recoveries in Virginia workers’ compensation healthcare cases.

When you health and family are on the line, we go into BATTLE for you!

Call us today!  800-277-6124  

There’s no fee to talk to us, and we’re paid only if we win your case.