Tragic Day for Long Island Workers
Coming eerily on the heels of Workers Memorial Day on April 28th, three workers died on the job in Suffolk County on May 2, 2005. In the first accident, two ambulance workers were killed while transporting a heart attack victim to a hospital in Riverhead. In the second accident, a 22 year old man was crushed when a 1,000 pound piece of cement fell off a forklift in Bellport. Our firm has already been retained by the family of one of the victims to prosecute their workers compensation death claim.
Both accidents raise interesting legal issues regarding wage earning capacity. The ambulance worker claims are not literally workers compensation claims. Volunteer Ambulance Workers (as well as Volunteer Firefighters) are covered under separate and distinct laws that are administered by the New York Workers Compensation Board. These somewhat arcane laws can provide better benefits than the Workers Compensation Law itself since they look at the workers "earning capacity" as opposed to actual wages.
The death of the 22 year raises the issue of "wage expectancy". This legal concept, a product of trade union apprentice programs, allows the Workers Compensation Board to artificially boost his average weekly wage to account for a presumption that younger workers wages increase faster in the early years of their careers. Workers compensation death claims are tragic for the families and challenging for the lawyers.
