Consumer Law

Chipping Away at Justice II: Workers? Comp. Woes With a Vengeance

By Andy Hoffman

Yesterday we told you about a Kentucky employee who was deemed ineligible for workers? compensation, despite contracting Parkinson?s disease after a 20-year exposure to a toxic chemical at his job. Unfortunately, today, we?re bringing you a kind of sequel.

Freddie Stokes, 57, of Detroit, worked for 28 years as a forklift operator at a Chrysler assembly plant until a damaged vertebrae in his neck forced him to stop.  Nine years later, he is still fighting the state of Michigan for his $406-a-week workers? comp. benefits.

Last June, the Michigan Supreme Court ? then the most anti-worker, anti-consumer, anti-victim, precedent-disregarding court in the country ? said this former forklift operator must be evaluated by vocational experts to see if he could perform other jobs, with similar pay.  They concluded he could apply for a job as a secretary.

?All I ever did was drive a hi-lo,? said Stokes, a former athlete who is now homebound, has two metal rods implanted in his neck, and is unable to turn his head or use his arms normally. 

?They spent more money fighting this case then I was entitled to,? said Stokes.  ?I?m not going to get any better.  I have to go through all this, for what??

Could things get any worse for workers in Michigan?

Full post as published by ThePopTort on January 27, 2009 (boomark / email).