Union Members

Union Member Workers’ Compensation Lawyers

Union members often work in dangerous environments. When they are injured on the job, they, like other workers, are eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. Unlike non-unionized employees, labor union members may be entitled to have their jobs held for them for a specific period of time following an injury, or they may be entitled to continuation of their benefits during the healing period after an injury.

Injured workers are often blamed for their own injuries, then disciplined or discharged for violating safety rules. Workers who belong to unions may be covered by collective bargaining agreements that allow them to contest these sanctions through arbitration. A union can provide other assistance to injured workers, advising them of their right to return to work, their right to report safety hazards in the workplace without retaliation, and the possibility of benefits under the Family and Medical Leave Act as well as workers’ compensation law.

Our attorneys are often called on to educate union members on their legal rights. We have spoken at state and national conferences sponsored by the North Carolina AFL-CIO, Teamsters, United Steelworkers, United Autoworkers, GMPIU, United Food and Commercial Workers, and Workers United.

If you are a union member injured at work, we can help you with the benefits and protections the law provides. We can, for example, make sure that if you settle your workers’ compensation claim, any release you sign will also protect the benefits you are entitled to from your collective bargaining agreement. We are also familiar with the requirements of labor union health and welfare plans that may have provided you and your family benefits while you pursued a denied workers’ compensation claim, and we can help you in coordinating these benefits with workers’ compensation benefits at the end of a case.