Whistleblower Suit Began with Workers’ Comp Case

February 2, 2024

Law firm under fire for workers’ comp case

  • A New Jersey personal injury firm is facing two wrongful termination lawsuits linked to allegations of sexual harassment and legal malpractice.
  • Alphonse Petracco is the second attorney to claim Ginarte Gonzalez & Winograd of Newark fired him because he allegedly called attention to a mishandled workers’ compensation case and encouraged a female paralegal to report allegedly inappropriate touching by a partner in the firm.
  • His suit against the firm, filed Jan. 26 in Essex County Superior Court, echoes the allegations in another case filed last March by former managing partner Michael Gallardo.
  • Petracco’s suit alleges that he and Gallardo looked into a case in which a workers’ compensation attorney failed to make a claim to an insurance company for a client’s joint injury.
    Read more

Construction dealing with influx of fatal injuries in North Carolina

  • Nearly 60 construction workers died in North Carolina workplaces between Jan. 2021 and Sep. 2023 in North Carolina, according to Occupational Fatality Inspection Review data from the NC Department of Labor.
  • John McCabe, a lawyer who works with workers’ compensation cases, has seen multiple cases where leadership fails to properly assess safety at a site. Instead, they often wait until someone is injured or killed before calling in an engineer
  • The construction industry has had the highest number of deaths in the state almost every year for the past 14 years. Since 2009, more than 250 construction workers have died in workplaces across North Carolina according to NCDOL data.
  • Nationally, construction and extraction workers had the second-most fatalities in 2022, after transportation and material movers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Construction and extraction worker fatalities increased by 11% from 2021 to 2022.
    Read more

Workers’ comp gets boost in New York ruling

  • The New York Third Department found no coverage on the part of Professional Employer Organizations for a non-leased employee.
  • Professional Employer Organizations must continue to provide their insurance policy, client leasing agreement, a detailed list of all leased employees, and testimony regarding the same in defense against workers’ compensation coverage claims.
  • The Third Department did not comment on whether Professional Employer Organizations must additionally ensure that their clients obtain and provide coverage to their non-leased employees.
  • The board reversed its prior affirmation, noting that the totality of the record supported the notion that the claimant was non-leased and, therefore, not covered by the policy under this new standard.
    Read more

Workplace injury trends in Texas

  • Texas Mutual Insurance Company released its 2023 Workplace Safety Trends Report offering insight into the most common catastrophic injuries and fatalities that occur on the job.
  • Overall, there was a nearly 6% increase in severe injuries reported to Texas Mutual in 2023 than the previous year.
  • The construction industry remained at the top of the list, with more than triple the reported claims of any other industry
  • These accidents include a 500% increase in power and communication line-related incidents and a 175% increase in oil and gas pipeline and related structures construction.
  • There were also 150% more reported electrocution-related claims in 2023.
    Read more