coronavirus

Published on: December 7, 2020

When Management Lies To Workers

With poultry giant Tyson, the safety hits just keep coming! Last week, I wrote about Tyson managers actually gambling on worker safety. That is, managers abandoned their workers in the midst of a pandemic and then gambled on how many would get sick. That’s horrible. You can read my article titled When Management Bets Against Worker Safety on this blog.

The day after I published my latest article, I read about more poultry industry mis-conduct that puts worker lives at risk. According to a new article, Tyson managers actually directed language interpreters to misrepresent safety conditions to the company’s hispanic workers. You can read that article titled Tyson Accused of Misleading Interpreters at Virus-Hit Plant at the Claims Journal website.

Really? When Covid strikes its workforce, management abandons the plant floor. Management stops safety meetings. Management leaves the workers to fend for themselves. Then, management gambles on how many will get sick? Coronavirus has run rampant through poultry plants in Alabama and across the United States.

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Published on: July 27, 2020

A Zoom Moment: Five Ways Remote Conferencing Can Improve Personal Injury Practices In A Post-Covid World

By Jeff Blackwell

As I write, firm attorney Jennifer McKown is attending a court hearing by Zoom. Rather than appear at the courthouse, she is sitting in front of her laptop in the conference room. During the coronavirus pandemic, Zoom hearings have become a necessity. Teleconferencing has become necessary for many businesses. Think also of our schools. In our home (like so many other families), we’ve grappled with the reality of remote learning during the pandemic. Like other businesses and schools, the legal profession must also grapple with questions of what activities can be handled remotely versus in-person.

Since March, I’ve attended numerous hearings by teleconference (through Zoom). I’ve also attended some in-person hearings in full mask. Just a couple weeks ago, I argued a lengthy post-trial motion in-person in a Marshall County workers’ compensation case. Maybe that hearing could have been handled remotely but it would have been much more difficult. We won a work comp trial right before the coronavirus shutdown and the defense lawyer filed post-trial motions. The arguments involved discussions of numerous cases and pieces of evidence. Everyone present in the same room made it much easier. Maybe I’ll write more about in-person pandemic hearings later. But, right now, I’ll talk about tele-hearings.

We all hope for a quick return to life without the coronavirus. We all face the current uncertainties together. What happens after the pandemic? What parts of life return to pre-corona normal? What parts of life permanently change? Can we learn from this shared experience? Can we benefit by lessons learned during this time?

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Published on: May 4, 2020

Does Vaping Increase The Risk Of Coronavirus?

By Jeff Blackwell

Does vaping make you more vulnerable to severe infection from the novel coronavirus? This is a question asked by many medical researchers.

Emerging Studies Indicate Vaping Increases The Risk Of Severe Coronavirus Problems

Some doctors on the front lines of coronavirus treatment believe vaping may be a factor in the rising number of young people hospitalized for serious coronavirus issues. How does vaping affect the human body to create coronavirus risks?

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Published on: April 20, 2020

Injured While Working From Home? Can You Get Alabama Workers’ Compensation Benefits?

By Jeff Blackwell

Can I get work comp benefits if injured while working from home? In recent days, I’ve been asked this question several times. Across Alabama, many workers are adjusting to remote work requirements from the COVID-19 crisis. Hopefully, these adjustments are temporary. With this new reality, let’s discuss how home-based work impacts workers’ compensation benefits.

Does The Alabama Workers’ Compensation Act Specifically Address Home-Based Workers?

Unfortunately, the Alabama Workers’ Compensation Act does not specifically address home-based workers. And, the Alabama Supreme Court has not yet provided a detailed opinion exactly on this issue. So, we do not have a bright-line answer to the specific home-based situations where work comp benefits are available (or are not available). Although the statute does not expressly address home-based workers, we do have some general rules that help. So, let’s look at the general rules as well as some past injuries outside an employer’s factory or office which court’s have previously found compensable.

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Published on: April 13, 2020

Hurt On The Job? Worried The Coronavirus Will Slow Your Claim Or Medical Treatment?

By Jeff Blackwell

During this difficult time, people are worried. Health. Work. Finances. Family. All are worries. Many people are asking, when will life return to normal.

I spoke with someone earlier this week who had waited five weeks for the doctor to review his MRI. The caller suffered a work-related injury. He was seeing a doctor authorized by work comp. He underwent an MRI. Now, he is sitting and waiting to hear the results. It’s a slow process in normal times. Even in normal times, our injured neighbors wait too long for treatment. These are NOT normal times.

Our attorneys answer workers compensation questions for callers on a daily basis. We’ve compiled some of the most frequent questions to create a Workers Compensation FAQ page on our website. If you cannot find your question on that page, let us know. We are happy to discuss the issue with you. Our consultations are always free.

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Published on: March 27, 2020

Will Coronavirus Issues Impact My Case In Alabama? Some Answers To Your Questions.

By Jeff Blackwell

During these difficult times, Blackwell Law Firm remains committed to providing excellent legal service for our clients, neighbors and Alabama communities. We are closely following public health developments related to COVID-19. We are monitoring information provided by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as well as the State of Alabama. At the law firm, we have implemented safety precautions to keep our clients and staff safe. This means temporarily adjusting the way we meet and work. We are optimistic that the collective implementation of these guidelines throughout our community will allow a return to normal shortly.

Our law firm is open and operational. We continue to work on our current cases. We are also available to answer legal questions from our neighbors throughout Alabama. And, we are available to work with new clients in personal injury claims.

While we prefer face-to-face contact, we understand the need to keep our community safe and to combat this novel coronavirus. We understand the need to limit temporarily in-person contact and meetings. Together, we must all take the shared duty for our community’s health and safety seriously. We have implemented procedures to protect our staff and clients.

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