As the holiday season approaches, many people will take on second or holiday jobs. Workers taking on such jobs will be taking on a heightened risk of injury. One academic study showed that temporary employees are two to three times more likely to be injured. An Omaha-based construction company found that 65 percent of lost-time injuries took place in the first 90 days of employment (this link is a downloadable presentation). This blog post will describe some causes of injury and then talk about some particular challenges faced by new employees who are injured.

Slips, trips and falls are the most common cause of work injury. This hazard can be particularly acute during the winter in retail and restaurant jobs because customers will track in snow and other moisture. Strain from lifting is also a common injury. Warehouse work is in high demand over the holiday season, and one risk particular to such work is the risk of falling pallets or boxes.

One challenge that new employees face when they get hurt is how to calculate their disability benefits. A worker may not have been employed long enough for an employer and/or insurer to accurately determine how much the employee should be paid in benefits after getting hurt. One approach may to be base this benefit rate on pay of similarly situated co-workers. If you believe you are getting shortchanged on benefits because you were a new employee when you were hurt, you should contact a lawyer.

Workers’ compensation is supposed to pay you benefits regardless of your fault in the injury. But fault can still play a role in work-injury claims. If your injury was the fault of someone other than your employer or a co-worker, then you might be able to pursue a negligence case against that party. Unfortunately, some employers have tried to reintroduce fault into the workers’ compensation system, to the detriment of newer employees. Some employers will fire or discipline employees who have preventable or lost-time accidents during the beginning of their employment. In my view, such policies amount to employers almost admitting that they are retaliating against employees who get hurt at work. If you have been disciplined under such a policy, you should contact an attorney.