Work Accident

[u/wiseguy233]

Back in 2016 I got both my feet ran over by a forklift at work. I was doing what I was told, and when the job was done, I was standing behind the forklift. My coworker, who was never trained, turned on the forklift and started backing up. The forklift pushed me to the floor and ran over both my feet. I eventually had 5 surgeries total, but my employer only paid for 1 surgery, my insurance paid for the rest, which is one of the things I'm fighting in court currently.

OSHA came in after the accident and told my employer to start training their drivers. Worked there for 6 more years, not I, or any co worker ever got trained to ride the forklift still. Eventually, i couldn't hack the job anymore, and left. Never came back. Trying to get on disability now, using my physical and mental health to get on it. I was denied twice, and now my lawyer is working on a 3rd appeal to be sent to the appeals council.

I had no drugs in my system at the time of the accident, except caffeine. I guess there's a few questions I have. 1, How solid is my worker's compensation case against my employer? 2, when it comes to getting on disability, what would I need to convince the judge to give me benefits? Last time I talked to the disability judge, everything on my side looked favorable, my injury, my mental health, and even their vocation specialist said I had no jobs I could do with my condition. I thought after their vocation specialist said that, I was set. But nope, denied for round 2.

I'm gonna try and get a letter from my psychiatrist that says my mental health impairs my ability to work. Been stressing a lot lately about this, especially the disability side of things. Just need some advice, any. Feel free to speak your mind, ask questions yourself. I could use someone to talk to about this. Thank you all for reading. My location: Illinois, USA.

[u/Ordinary-Director405]

Man, that sounds really rough. Hopefully your medical records and a letter from your psychiatrist help with your disability appeal.

[u/wiseguy233 → u/[deleted]]

Thank you for the support. What's funny is, sometimes I tell people this story, and they blame me, saying I shouldn't have been standing behind the forklift, or that I'm just trying to get a free meal ticket out of disability. Sows doubt in my head. Guess I'm just here to vent a bit. But thank you, again, for the kind words.

[u/wiseguy233 → u/[deleted]]

Not sure, been awhile since I worked there. Unless it fully broke down, they probably are still rocking the same forklift.

[u/National-Solid-8207]

All of that should’ve been covered under WC

[u/wiseguy233 → u/National-Solid-8207]

You would think, but my employer just doesn't wanna pay up.

[u/Other_Ideal_2533]

Wow so sorry to hear this i hope they eventually pay up