Why Hire Roden Law After a Charleston Workplace Injury
Workers’ compensation is supposed to be simple: you get hurt at work, and benefits pay for your treatment and part of your lost wages. In practice, claims are delayed, benefits are cut off early, and injured workers are told they missed a deadline. Our Charleston lawyers handle the claim so you can focus on getting better.
- No fee unless we win. The consultation is free, and you pay nothing up front.
- A South Carolina lawyer on your case. Your claim is handled under South Carolina law by attorneys licensed here, from our office at 127 King Street.
- Deadlines tracked for you. Notice to your employer and the claim with the South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission each have their own deadline.
- Third-party claims found. If someone other than your employer caused the injury, a separate claim can recover what workers’ comp does not.
Where Charleston Workplace Injuries Happen
The port and logistics
Terminal, trucking and warehouse work around the Port of Charleston produces crush, struck-by and lifting injuries. Some port and maritime workers are covered by federal law rather than South Carolina workers’ compensation. See longshoreman injury claims.
Manufacturing and aerospace
Plants in North Charleston produce machinery, repetitive-motion and chemical-exposure injuries. See workplace injuries at North Charleston plants. Our North Charleston office at 2703 Spruill Avenue is close to the industrial corridor.
Construction
Charleston’s building boom brings falls, equipment accidents and trench and scaffold injuries. See construction worker injuries in Charleston.
Hospitals, hotels and restaurants
Healthcare, hospitality and restaurant workers downtown are hurt lifting patients and guests’ luggage, on wet floors and in kitchens. Repetitive strain counts too; see occupational disease claims.
South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Rules
Two deadlines, not one
You must give your employer notice of the injury right away, and no later than 90 days after the accident (S.C. Code § 42-15-20), and file your claim with the South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission within two years of the accident (S.C. Code § 42-15-40). Telling your supervisor is not the same as filing a claim.
Fault does not matter, with two exceptions
You do not have to prove your employer was careless. No compensation is payable if the injury was caused by the worker’s intoxication or wilful intention to injure himself or another, and the party raising that defense has to prove it (S.C. Code § 42-9-60).
What workers’ comp pays
Total disability pays 66 2/3% of your average weekly wage, no more than the state average weekly wage, for up to 500 weeks, or for life for a worker left paraplegic, quadriplegic or with physical brain damage (S.C. Code § 42-9-10). See how much South Carolina workers’ comp pays, South Carolina body part values and impairment ratings and MMI.
You usually cannot sue your employer, but you may be able to sue someone else
Where you and your employer are under the Act, workers’ compensation is your exclusive remedy against the employer: no lawsuit and no pain-and-suffering or punitive damages from the employer (S.C. Code § 42-1-540). A claim against a third party, such as a negligent driver or the maker of a defective machine, is separate. See third-party workplace injury claims.
If your claim has been denied, see what to do after a denial and denied workers’ comp claims. For the rest of South Carolina, see our South Carolina workers’ compensation lawyers.
