Author Archives: Catherine Stanton

Lawsuit Contends Surveillance Database Is Too Lax on Reporting Criteria

Today’s post was shared by The Workers’ Injury Law & Advocacy Group and comes from www.nytimes.com

WASHINGTON — Intent on not overlooking clues about any terrorist plots after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the government spread a now-familiar slogan: “If you see something, say something.” Less visibly, it built a national database to better harness reports of suspicious activity in the hunt for terrorists.

On Thursday, five California men opened a legal front over the recurring tensions between collective security measures and individual rights by filing a lawsuit that challenges the Suspicious Activity Reporting database. They contend that it is too easy for people engaged in innocuous activities to be put into the database and scrutinized as if they were a threat.

The plaintiffs include two white photographers who were confronted by security guards at a natural gas tank and by the police at a refinery; an Egyptian-American who tried to buy a large number of computers at a Best Buy store; a Pakistani-American who was looking around in a train station with his mother, who wore a Muslim head scarf; and a white Muslim convert who was looking at a flight simulator game on the Internet.

Each contends that he was added to the database for his behavior, although only two, according to previously disclosed government documents, have been able to prove it. The lawsuit argues that federal standards are too lax in allowing a security guard’s or a police officer’s report to be uploaded into the national database.

The Justice Department did not…

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New Deadline For September 11th Claims

As we approach another anniversary of September 11, we will mark the day with a true feeling of sadness and tremendous loss, as that was a day that changed us all forever. Some of us lost loved ones, some sacrificed their health, and all of us lost our sense of security. Once again we will see the news coverage of those who perished on that fateful day and see the grim procession of officials, family, and friends of those who were lost as they make their way down to Ground Zero.

We will hear the heartbreaking countdown of the more than 2,000 names of those who died read aloud by their loved ones. We will cry with them as we watch their struggles with grief, and we will recall exactly where we were and what we were doing on that dreadful day. We will have trouble remembering what our lives were like before the Twin Towers fell, when the fear of flying was the fear of a plane malfunction or pilot error.  

We will have trouble remembering what it was like not removing our shoes at the airport or of restrictions on liquids in our carry-on luggage. Now, almost 13 years later, there still are thousands who have been affected by the aftermath of that horrific day. For those who sacrificed their health for the rescue, recovery and clean up of the World Trade Center for the first year through September 12, 2002, first and foremost I want to continue to extend my gratitude for what you did for our city and our country. Your service will not, and should not, ever be forgotten.

But, I also want to encourage you to preserve your right to Workers’ Compensation. If you are an employee or member of an entity that participates in the New York State Workers’ Compensation system, you should file a WTC-12 form whether or not you were injured, and whether you were a worker or volunteer. This applies to those who worked directly at Ground Zero, or at the Fresh Kills Landfill, on the barges and piers, and at the morgues. Unfortunately, there are slow-starting diseases and cancers that have been known to occur as a result of exposure to the toxins and carcinogens in the rubble and in the air.  

As a practitioner in Workers’ Compensation, my office continues to handle new claims regularly for serious medical conditions as a result of harmful exposures. Even if you have no symptoms currently, you still should preserve your future rights. The deadline to file this WTC-12 form is fast approaching – September 11, 2014. While New York State has previously extended the deadline, there is no guarantee that this will happen once again.

Please visit the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board website at www.wcb.ny.gov/WTC12, where you will find a link for the registration form. This form can be filled out on line, but then must be printed out, notarized, and received by the Board by September 11, 2014.  The Workers’ Compensation Board has set up a special hot line for any questions you might have regarding these issues. You can call tollfree, 1-855-WTC-2014. 

You have a right to protect your future as well as the future of your loved ones. If this doesn’t apply to you, I would ask that you please share this information with all those who might qualify so that no one is left worrying about their future.

 

 

Catherine M. Stanton is a senior partner in the law firm of Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano, LLP. She focuses on the area of Workers’ Compensation, having helped thousands of injured workers navigate a highly complex system and obtain all the benefits to which they were entitled. Ms. Stanton has been honored as a New York Super Lawyer, is the past president of the New York Workers’ Compensation Bar Association, the immediate past president of the Workers’ Injury Law and Advocacy Group, and is an officer in several organizations dedicated to injured workers and their families. She can be reached at 800.692.3717.

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Best Ways To Protect Yourself From Common Workplace Injuries

Last week marked the 25th anniversary of Workers’ Memorial Day – a day set aside to remember those who were injured or died on the job. President Barack Obama issued a proclamation in which he noted “we must never accept that injury, illness, or death is the cost of doing business.”  While we have come a long way from the tragedy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in which 146 workers were killed while trapped inside a garment factory due to locked doors and a collapsed fire escape, it is clear that we haven’t come far enough.

Recently, the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) issued a report on Workplace Safety in the Construction Industry. The report was frightening. Just last year alone, 23 construction workers were killed while performing their jobs. According to the NYCOSH report, many of these construction deaths could have been prevented had proper safety precautions been taken. The report noted that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), established by the U.S. Congress to enforce safety practices, is understaffed, thereby leaving many worksites uninspected. Also, penalties for infractions are far too low to deter some employers from not implementing proper safety precautions. 

Many of us in the workforce thankfully are not engaged in hazardous employment, but there are dangers often not anticipated. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, overexertion due to lifting or bending the body was the leading cause of workplace injury in New York. These types of injuries are seen in health care, food services, educational services, retail, professional and business services. In short, most work-related injuries are not confined to the construction industry but rather are occurring in every industry.  

What should you do to protect yourself from many of the common injuries? First and foremost, know exactly what your job duties entail. Find out how to properly perform your job before you engage in your work.

  • Make sure your workspace is maintained in a neat and orderly way so that you don’t trip on wires or boxes, or slip on papers, or food or oil in the food service industry.
  • If your office has a break room or kitchen, make sure spills are cleaned up immediately.
  • Office supplies should be stored properly so they don’t fall on you or your coworkers.
  • Know the proper way to lift heavy items to protect your back
  • Make sure your computer workstation allows you to maintain adequate posture so you don’t put undue strain on your arms, hands and back
  • Have an ergonomic keyboard that can help reduce injuries to your wrists
  • If you are not trained as a technician, do not try to fix equipment; bring in a repairman
  • Make sure you are instructed on what to do in case of a fire; know where the exits are and make sure your company engages in fire drills

If all else fails and an accident does occur, know the proper procedure for reporting an injury.   Workplace safety is crucial. It will save employers money as injuries result in loss of manpower and higher insurance rates, but most importantly, workplace safety will save lives.

 

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Catherine M. Stanton is a senior partner in the law firm of Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano, LLP. She focuses on the area of Workers’ Compensation, having helped thousands of injured workers navigate a highly complex system and obtain all the benefits to which they were entitled. Ms. Stanton has been honored as a New York Super Lawyer, is the past president of the New York Workers’ Compensation Bar Association, the immediate past president of the Workers’ Injury Law and Advocacy Group, and is an officer in several organizations dedicated to injured workers and their families. She can be reached at 800.692.3717. 

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Can Social Media Participation Impact Your Benefits?

Many of us are enamored with social media. It is a wonderful way to communicate with those across the country, around the world or right around your block. It is a way to keep with touch with friends, acquaintances and even professional colleagues. However, in our world of ever increasing technology, there are ever increasing risks. We have seen time and time again on the nightly news reports stories of cyber crime, internet scams, child predators and the embarrassing things people post on the world-wide web. We often try to impart this knowledge to our children as their youthful indiscretions can come aback to haunt them as they start applying for jobs as employers regularly now google potential candidates. Websites such as MySpace, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, while entertaining and useful, can also put injured workers at risk. It is easy to forget that a photo posted on social media can come up on many internet searches. It is easy to forget that the internet is not part of the private sphere but is the public square. It is also easy to forget that anyone can create a profile and seek to join anyone else’s network of “friends” on one of these sites.  That includes investigators who work for insurance companies and defendants attorneys.

By applying for benefits, you are stating that you are injured and are unable to work or only able to perform part-time or intermittent work. Information available on the internet that appears to contradict your application for benefits can result in your being denied benefits or even result in a fraud charge being leveled against you. This could be information about your professional or personal accomplishments, a home-based business, or even volunteer activities, which may be no longer current or may not accurately reflect your level of functioning since your injury. Those pictures of you on vacation in Jamaica doing the limbo might be entertaining but they could also put you at great risk if you are indicating a disability. These types of stories appear regularly in the news media. Furthermore, and even more importantly, recent court decisions around the nation and even in New York have ruled that plaintiffs may have to permit defendants access to their social networking sites and even their hard drives for analysis.

Therefore it is imperative that if you are applying for benefits based upon a disability be it workers’ compensation, social security disability or even for negligence to be cautious when posting anything about yourself on the internet.  This includes photographs, statements, travel plans, and commentary about your own social activities.  Furthermore, we cannot stress enough to take care when accepting new persons into your internet social networks.  Make sure you actually know who you are opening up yourself to, for they may not be the person you think they are, and could be in the employ of an insurance carrier.

Finally, it is extremely important that all persons using social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace make sure that the privacy settings for their profiles are set to the maximum. On Facebook this should prevent a person’s profile from being found even if their name is searched. The bottom line is if you are disabled, you should never engage in any activity contrary to your injury as one funny moment in time on social media can impact you for your entire life. 

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Giving Back At The Howard Beach Relay For Life

In late June, attorneys and staff from Pasternack, Tilker, Ziegler, Walsh, Stanton & Romano LLP had the honor of participating in the Howard Beach Relay for Life. In addition to attending the event, we raised over $2,000 for the American Cancer Society.

We would like to give special thanks to our attorneys and staff and to their families who organized our tent and refreshments and who walked in the relay. Our participation, like the battle against cancer, is a group effort.

We were so excited by the grass-roots commitment to this event that we have already volunteered to co-chair next years’ Relay. We hope to see you there!

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Transforming Apprenticeships for the 21st Century

UPS apprenticeship

Today’s post was shared by US Dept. of Labor and comes from social.dol.gov

On Wednesday, President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden visited Pennsylvania to announce new actions to enhance job-driven training across America. A key focus of the president’s remarks was how apprenticeships are one of the clearest paths to good, high-paying jobs. As he mentioned, 9 out of 10 apprentices get hired for full-time jobs after completing their program, and the average starting wage for apprenticeship graduates is more than $50,000. Expanding apprenticeship opportunities will give more Americans a chance to secure a foothold in the middle class.

Several new efforts will help double the number of apprenticeships over the next five years, a goal the president laid out in his State of the Union address. For the first time, the Labor Department is making $100 million available help more workers participate in apprenticeships. The grant competition will launch this fall and will be funded by fees employers pay through the H-1B visa program to hire temporary high-skilled foreign workers.

Using these existing funds, the new American Apprenticeship Grants competition will focus on partnerships between employers, labor organizations, training providers, community colleges, local and state governments, the workforce system, nonprofits and faith-based organizations. These partnerships will help expand tried-and-true apprenticeship models to newer, high-growth fields like information technology, health care and advanced manufacturing; making sure…

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Join Us In Supporting Cancer Research At The Relay For Life On June 7-8

I started writing to impart vital information to readers about Workers’ Compensation. As a practitioner in this field for almost 25 years, I want to provide guidance on procedure, insight to those who have been trying to maneuver within the system, and knowledge about benefits injured workers may be  entitled to if they get hurt on the job. 

In this post I will veer off topic to tell you about a very important event coming up next month – the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life at Charles Park in Howard Beach on June 7-8 starting at 6:00 p.m. I am proud to say that my law firm – Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano LLP – is one of the proud sponsors of this event.   

I am sure that anyone reading this column has been either personally affected by cancer or knows of someone who has been. We have shared the fear, the shock, the anger and the determination of those who have been diagnosed with this disease. We have shared the tears – and in some instances the final acceptance – with loved ones that their personal fight was too big to win. The Relay for Life helps raise funds and awareness to save lives from cancer. It is a way for us to remember those who have lost their personal battle, to celebrate those who have survived, and to fight back against the disease that has affected us all.  

According to the American Cancer Society, cancer remains the second most common cause of death in the United States – accounting for nearly 1 of every 4 deaths. In 2014, there will be an estimated 1,665,540 newly diagnosed cancer cases, and 585,720 cancer deaths in the United States. Needless to say, these statistics are staggering. We as a community need to pull together to help prevent any further unnecessary deaths. The Relay for Life is one event that allows our friends and families to get together for the common goal of raising money to fight cancer in a way that will be fun. We can share experiences with each other while having a sense of camaraderie. 

Here is the link – http://www.relayforlife.org/. Come join a team or create your own. If you don’t want to walk, you can be a volunteer to set up, coordinate, or clean up. If you can’t walk or attend, then please consider making a donation. You can dedicate a Luminaria bag — which can be personalized with a name, photo, message or drawing and are illuminated after dark – in memory or honor of a friend or loved one at the Relay for Life.   

The good news is that there are more than 14 million cancer survivors. The goal is to reduce the number of those who are diagnosed with cancer in the first place. Whatever role you choose to play in this fight is up to you, but this event shows that you don’t have to engage in the fight alone. You will meet people who have been caregivers and those who are survivors. We will meet as strangers, but leave as comrades in the fight against cancer.     

 

Catherine M. Stanton is a senior partner in the law firm of Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano, LLP. She focuses on the area of Workers’ Compensation, having helped thousands of injured workers navigate a highly complex system and obtain all the benefits to which they were entitled. Ms. Stanton has been honored as a New York Super Lawyer, is the past president of the New York Workers’ Compensation Bar Association, the immediate past president of the Workers’ Injury Law and Advocacy Group, and is an officer in several organizations dedicated to injured workers and their families. She can be reached at 800.692.3717.

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Are Forklifts Dangerous?

Today’s post comes from guest author Leonard Jernigan, from The Jernigan Law Firm.

 The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) covers forklifts under the section called Powered Industrial Trucks, and you have to be certified to operate these lifts. The smaller ones you see weigh up to 7,000 pounds and they are so dangerous some experts consider them “inherently dangerous.”

It is in violation of federal law to operate a forklift if under the age of 18, and OSHA requires that you be specifically trained. See 29 CFR 1910.178. If operated properly, a forklift is no more dangerous than any other piece of heavy machinery. However, if the operator is not properly trained and certified bad things can happen. We now represent a young man who was allowed to operate a forklift without any certification and the forklift turned over on him and crushed him, damaging several internal organs and his spine. He survived, but he is partially paralyzed from the waist down. He will have a lifetime of pain. He has lost the use of both feet.

Other examples are workers being crushed when a forklift accidentally runs into them. The human body cannot withstand a crush impact from a 7,000 pound machine. If the lifts on the forklift are elevated with a heavy load, the potential for a tip-over is greatly increased, even if the operator is moving slowly. Never underestimate the power of a forklift.

For more information go to osha.gov and review Powered Industrial Trucks.

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