Minneapolis Workers' Compensation Blog

You can find it in your home and you can find it in your office. Ammonia is a common and versatile chemical used in everything from household cleaners to lawn fertilizer to refrigeration systems. If you work in one of Minnesota’s many meat processing facilities, it’s likely you interact with ammonia every day.

Despite ammonia’s multi-purpose capabilities, you must exercise caution when handling to protect yourself and others.

Some workplace injuries eventually heal completely. But it is common for an injured or sickened worker to never recover fully. Nevertheless, most work accident victims want to go back to work as soon as they are able. As with any disabled worker, survivors of workplace injuries in Minnesota are entitled to reasonable accommodations to allow them to do their jobs under the U.S. Americans With Disabilities Act and the state Human Rights Act.

There is obviously an intersection between workers’ compensation and employment law here. What if a person gets hurt on the job, receives workers’ compensation, and returns to work, only to be refused a reasonable accommodation by their employer? Could that person be entitled to an employment discrimination claim in addition to the workers’ comp relief?

Working in an office environment seems like one of the less dangerous professions in terms of physical problems, but it has its share of issues. One condition that office workers need to look out for is Computer Vision Syndrome, often called Digital Eye Strain.

This is a condition that can affect your well-being and work productivity, and if it's not treated and mitigated, it could lead to a longer-term injury that may take significant time to heal. 

It is difficult to understand just how complex a work injury or illness can be until you yourself or a closed loved one is affected by one directly. At first glance, a work injury or illness would seem to affect the body alone. But depending on the unique circumstances surrounding the injury or illness, a worker may be compelled to grapple with a myriad of challenges related to virtually every aspect of life.

Work injuries and illnesses can affect the mind, the spirit, personal relationships, work relationships, leave balances, salary, work responsibilities, medication challenges and legal cases. These are just a few examples of the ways in which work injuries and illnesses can affect the lives of those who struggle with them.