Have you been injured while at work at a Home Depot store? If you have been injured in an accident while at work or have suffered from a work related illness, now may be the time to file a workers’ compensation claim to recover any medical expenses you either have already paid or are about to pay. A successful claim should also help pay for part of any wages that you have lost because of your injuries. Talk to a workers’ comp. attorney if confused about what you should do, or if you have any problems with your claim. Company Profile: Home Depot Inc. The Home Depot Inc. is the largest home improvements retailer in the U.S. with upward of 385,000 employees. It has outlets in all 50 states as well as D.C., Guam, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The Home Depot only became first established in 1978 with the intention to build hypermarket size facilities which would surpass in size and sales of any other competitor. The company overtook its nearest rival, Lowes, in 2008 despite some financial hiccoughs in the mid 1980s. Home Depot stores sell building materials, flooring, garden supplies, hardware, home appliances, lumber, paint, plumbing, and plants tools. Its corporate headquarters are based in Atlanta, Georgia. Hourly Wages at Home Depot If you are injured while working at the Home Depot, your normal hourly wages will be taken into consideration when working out your claim. There are various different jobs at the Home Depot and there is a different pay scale for each job category. Apart from managers, who get paid more than the workers they manage, employees at the Home Depot get a range of hourly wages as the examples below indicate: Retail department supervisors earn between $12.79 and $18.02. Retail sales associates earn between $9.72 and $16.17. Cashiers earn between $8.79 and $11.46. The above figures for Home Depot workers are from payscale.com and were updated on 19th March 2017. Filing a Claim For Workers’ Compensation at Home Depot Home Depot is a popular DIY store employing thousands of workers across the country. Employees handle all sorts of items including those that are heavy or toxic. Many accidents like slips and falls take place resulting in serious head or spinal injuries. You may be entitled to workers’ compensation as it is a no-fault system so even if you are fully or partially to blame for your accident you may still be entitled to a workers’ compensation settlement. There are some requirements you must meet before being entitled to workers’ compensation. One important one is informing your supervisor as soon as possible after the accident. Failing to do this could result in Home Depot not believing your accident happened at work. You will need to ask Home Depot for a WC claim’s form. If they don’t have one you can ask for one from your state’s workers’ compensation board. If your injury is so serious that it makes it hard for you to file yourself you will need to ask someone, such as a close family member to do this on your behalf. The following details will need to be included on the form: your full name; your job title with Home Depot; where and how the accident happened at Home Depot; details of your injury including how and where it happened; the names of any other Home Depot employees who were involved in the accident. Because Home Depot’s workers’ comp. insurers are looking for anyway to deny your claim you need to include documentary evidence to prove your injury took place while employed at Home Depot. There are several reasons why Home Depot could deny your WC claim such as: you were under the influence of alcohol or drugs while at work which caused your spinal injury when you slipped and fell; you had been injured at some other time in another place but your symptoms still persist; you broke one of Home Depot’s safety rules which caused you to fall. This is why you need to back up anything related to your injury with documentary evidence. This should include the following: written evidence proving you had reported your accident and injury to your supervisor within the stated timeframe; receipts for any medical treatment you have received; unpaid invoices for medical treatment received but not paid for; your physician’s report describing your diagnosis, medical treatment administered and possible recovery time; written accounts completed by reliable eye witnesses; photos taken by you or a work colleague of the slip and fall accident site and your injury; photos taken by surveillance cameras in the Home Depot store. How Much Could You Be Paid In Compensation if You Work at the Home Depot? Workers’ compensation is paid according to two major components. The first is compensation for medical expenses related to the workplace injury or illness, including legitimate estimates for all future expenses. The second is a portion (usually around two thirds) of the estimated earnings that would have been paid if the worker had been able to return to work. As an example of an injured sales worker at the Home Depot, the actual earnings would probably be averaged over the last six months of work. If the average hourly earnings were calculated at $12.50, then a workers’ comp. settlement may pay $8.50 an hour for the number of hours that worker would have been expected to have worked if he or she had not been injured or ill. Calculating Workers’ Comp Settlement Against Home Depot for a Slip and Fall Accident A workers’ compensation claim for a slip and fall accident should include: compensation for the cost of all medical treatment of physician’s fees, hospital treatment, surgery, anesthesia, if required, x-rays, scans and all medication. compensation for lost wages which could be up to 2/3 of your weekly wage. A WC settlement could also include compensation for any future medical expenses if your chances of returning to work are likely to take a long time. These could include temporary total disability benefits when you can’t return to work because of restrictions brought on by your work accident, temporary partial disability benefits when can go back to light duty work but you are receiving less money due to an lower hourly wage or working fewer hours, permanent partial disability benefits when the injury causes permanent impairment to a part of your body even after you’ve attained maximum medical improvement. Average Workers’ Comp. Settlement for Injuries For a Slip and Fall At Home Depot If a Home Depot warehouse assistant slips and falls and cracks a rib and has to take time off work, s/he can expect to receive 2/3 of his/her weekly wage and the full cost of medical treatment. A cracked rib could cost up to $11,000 to treat. This includes emergency room treatment including x-rays and scans, cost of medications and a follow up with a physician. If the warehouse employee was receiving $8 per hour for a 40 hour week and s/he has to take 3 weeks off work to recover the total value of workers’ compensation could be as follows: Total medical treatment $11,000 Total wages 2/3 of $8 X 40 hours X 3 weeks = $639 Total estimated workers’ compensation = $11,639. An Attorney Can be of Help When Filing a Workers’ Compensation Claim You would think that if you were badly injured while at work that you would get sympathetic treatment and a compensation claim should proceed smoothly. This does happen, but not always. If you discover that the claim you have filed is denied or the amount you have been offered seems too low, you should contact a workers’ comp. attorney to see how he or she can help you gain the compensation you deserve. *The content of this article serves only to provide information and should not be construed as legal advice. If you file a claim against Home Depot, or any other company, you may not be entitled to any compensation.
