Potentially Dangerous Jobs For Teens
Many parents this summer will encourage their teenage sons and daughters to seek temporary summer jobs for extra income and valuable life skills. However, these seemingly harmless summer jobs are known by many an Orlando workers compensation attorneys to be the most dangerous. According to the National Consumers League, a teen is injured at work every 9 minutes, and a child employee in the US dies as often as every 14 days. Youthful and inexperienced, teenage employees are often left to perform tasks that more experienced professionals avoid for obvious safety reasons.
Hazardous Jobs for Minors
The chief causes of workplace injuries for teens involved heavy machinery, falls, and exposure to chemicals. Sadly, without consulting with an Orlando workers compensation attorney many young workers are unaware of their rights in the workplace or the enormous risks present in many worksites. The most dangerous jobs for teenage workers, including the highest rates of serious injury and accidental death, were found in these common fields:
- Agriculture
- Construction
- Landscaping
- Traveling Sales
Minors Hiring Workers Compensation Attorney in Orlando
Florida statutes on workers compensation are very clear and even more protections are added to ensure the well being of minors in employment. An Orlando workers compensation attorney will usually only have 2 years to file a claim before reaching a statute of limitations. However, when the injured employee is a minor, the time can be extended until that employee is of age. Furthermore, Florida statute §440.54 specifies drastically serious penalties for employers who are found in violation of child labor laws when a minor is injured. The employer, not the insurer, can be held responsible for as much as double the compensation costs.
The crucial difference between this situation compared to when an adult files are the calculation of long-term benefits. A slight injury that is healed within a few months can be quickly compensated, but if a minor is permanently disabled then he or she is entitled to the full potential of lost wages. Unlike adults, whose compensation would be adjusted according to their current wages, the “future earning capacity” of a minor over the course of a lifetime is more difficult to ascertain and exorbitantly higher in cost. Clearly, the wages one was earning in a part-time summer job would not accurately reflect the eventual income of what one would have earned had an injury not prevented the normal completion of school and an established career. The duty of an Orlando workers compensation attorney is to emphasize the full extent of damages when an employee is injured so early in life.
How to Stay Safe
The best protection that teenage employees can use when starting a summer job is a full and complete understanding of their rights under the law. Minors are limited in the type of work and the hours they can be expected to work. Any workers compensation attorney in Orlando will encourage a young employee to refuse any work that seems hazardous, offers poor safety training, or requires travel or long periods free of adult supervision.
