Legal Question in Workers Comp in North Carolina

My uninsured 25 year old daughter was attending a print press workshop in NC for a few months and thus became uninsured, as she left her hometown employment in New Orleans LA to learn her trade for a few months. While in NC she found a partime job in a small print press shop. She hurt her hand in one of the print press machines pretty severly, luckily she didnt lose all four fingers, she is currently rehabbing that hand in NC. Her employer has no workers compensation insurance. Her employer has been very good to her thus far taking care of her current needs while out of work. Her employer is a young man who owns the small business. If she sued him, he would close the business and file bankruptcy, he has proclaimed. He wants to negotiate some type of partial payment of her medical bills over a year and she would be left with the rest. My main question is what are the laws about a small business acquiring workers compensation insurance and what is her best avenue to take. She could be paying for rehab for a year or more. I'm afraid if she does sue, he will file bankruptcy and not be able to pay the bills and she will still get left holding the bag. She's alone in NC, I'm her Dad in Texas. What is the best advice in this situation please? Thank you for your time. Ken


Asked on 9/14/10, 7:09 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bob Bollinger Bollinger Law Firm PC

If you will have your daughter call me, I will give her a free consultation. The business must carry work comp insurance only if it has 3 or more "regular employees." So, the business was either illegally uninsured, or it was not required to carry work comp coverage. If it was not required to carry coverage, then it may be a negligence case----if the business owner's negligence caused the accident, e.g., missing safety guards on the machine, etc., then your daughter may want to sue him. Hopefully he had liability insurance to cover his negligence even if he did not have work comp insurance.

Bob Bollinger www.bollingerlawfirmnc.com

Read more
Answered on 9/20/10, 10:45 am


Related Questions & Answers

More Workers' Compensation Law questions and answers in North Carolina