I got injured at work, and my boss was paying me under the table?
I was working as a superintendent (construction) on a home remodel for a month. On a day that no one else was working, my boss asked me to shovel a 3 ft high pile of dirt into a walk-in trash bin. I used a wheelbarrel up a ramp. The ramp dropped and the wheelbarrel fell over half full of dirt on the trash bin, on top of me. My boss got upset when I told him I was injured. He intimidated me. I’m bruised all over and I’ve sprained my arm. I’m truly in bad shape but everyone is so upset at me for getting hurt. Its been a week and a half. I’ve been going to the doctor, I’ve been paying. I need x-rays and physical therapy. I don’t know where to start. He’s scaring me. The problem is I was settling a personal injury case from 7 months ago. I
I got a job a month ago as a superintendant of a home remodel. I schedule subcontractors. One day my boss asked me to shovel dirt into a walk in trash bin. I was surprised. I not a very strong women. So I used a wheelbarrel. Well the ramp slipped and the wheel barrel fell off the trash bin on top of me. My boss has been intimidating me. He knows I was closing a personal injury case from 7 months ago. I don’t know where to start. I’ve been going to the doctor. I’m afraid to talk to him. I’m truly hurt and I’ve lost feeling in my right hand. I can’t even write. need help
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Going out on a limb here…….
Let me guess……you were committing insurance fraud……working under the table (and off the books) while pursuing an injury claim. Where you probably did not report your under the table/off the book work when you got hurt….
hmmmm…..
That karma’s a funny thing.
Likely, it’s going to take a lawsuit to sue your “employer”, and then you’ll have to prove he was paying you. Hopefully, he paid you by check, AND you paid taxes on it.
IF he had workers comp, it would cover you – and then he’ll get into a world of legal trouble for the tax evasion thing.
If you were NOT paying taxes on it . . . or YOU want to avoid tax evasion/fraud charges, you’re not going to be able to do a blessed thing about it.
Going after him for workers comp – although he owes it to you – will open up a huge, legal bucket of worms for BOTH of you.
Both of you were doing something illegal and both knew it – If he was paying you off the books, it’s doubtful that he has workers comp insurance and since you were not an “on the books” employee, you wouldn’t be covered anyway. You’ll have to pay the medical bills.
Sounds to me like you are S.O.L. (sh@# out of luck)
This is a very tricky case. One you are working under the table and it’s considered illegal. Two your “boss” is doing insurance fraud and can get in big trouble.
So what to do? When you where working for him how did he pay you? Did he pay you in cash or check? If there was a check it would help your case if you have something written in the memo area. Because they can argue that a blank memo doesn’t mean anything, could mean he paid you for a TV you sold him. Was there an agreement between you and the boss such as a contract? If there was you will need to present this to an adjuster as well.
Witnesses? They are tough to help because they don’t want to get involved and the boss might intimidate them to tell them the wrong information during the investigation. However if they are asked to appear in court they will have to tell the truth. A good adjuster will have an investigator interview the witnesses and get recorded statements.
Right now what you should do is see a doctor who does work comp. Just to get the claim running, because if you don’t file the claim than you’ll be stuck. So you want to do that to protect your rights. Has your doctor filed the claim yet?
You’ll probably will need to seek the advice of an attorney. Probably a few attorney’s and let them know your story and what they can do. The reason I say this is that some attorney’s will think about it and than not help because it’s a sure loser. But doesn’t hurt to try it. You need evidence, because right now you would be considered an outside contractor who was not on the payroll.
You obviously in some pain, and if you have private insurance you’ll have to get this fixed and let your private insurance pay for it while the work comp works this out.
Good luck
Provided you are a legitimate employee, you can file a claim and he can’t intimidate you or he can be in a lot of trouble for doing so. Depending on your state, most have some sort of industrial board that will help you file a claim. He is obligated to have work comp insurance and if he does not want you to file a claim because he is worried his premiums will go up, that is too bad. You need medical treatment and your personal insurance case has no bearing on your work comp claim.