If your employer values cost savings above your safety concerns, you may be facing the devastating choice between placing yourself in harm’s way every day you go to work, or leaving the job that supports you and your family. No one should be forced to decide between personal safety and food for your family.
Most West Virginians are familiar with Worker’s Compensation Insurance which will cover only a portion of the cost of workplace injuries. Many do not know, however, that West Virginia has a second avenue for compensation for injured employees. If your injuries resulted directly from an unsafe conditions of which the employer was aware, a “Deliberate Intent” case can be filed on behalf of the injured employee.
To Prove Deliberate Intent on the part of your employer, you must prove:
- That a specific unsafe working condition existed in the workplace which presented a high degree of risk and a strong probability of serious injury or death;
- That the employer had a subjective realization and an appreciation of the existence of such a specific unsafe working condition and of the high degree of risk and the strong probability of serious injury or death presented by the unsafe working condition;
- That the specific unsafe working condition was a violation of a state or federal safety statute, rule, or regulation, whether cited or not, or of a commonly accepted and well-known safety standard within the industry or business of such employer, which statute, rule, regulation, or standard was specifically applicable to the particular work and working condition involved, as contrasted with a statute, rule, regulation, or standard generally requiring safe workplaces, equipment, or working conditions;
- That the employer thereafter exposed an employee to such specific unsafe working condition intentionally; and
- That the employee suffered serious injury or death as a direct and proximate result of such specific unsafe working condition.
W.Va. Code § 23-4-2(c)(2)(ii)
If you are unsure whether or not Deliberate Intent can be proved in your or your loved one’s case, please contact us at www.Robinettelaw.com, or (304)594-1800.
