Hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans work in the retail sector, and while it may not be considered as dangerous as the construction or agricultural industries, the fact remains that numerous retail workers suffer injuries every day on the job. And according to the results of a recent study, you may be surprised to learn just how significant these retail injuries can be. Below, we take a closer look at how work injuries affect the retail sector, and we explain what you should do if you’re injured at your job.
The Cost Of Retail Work Injuries
A recent study by AmTrust Financial Services sought to better understand the impact of retail work injuries. The accomplished this by analyzing more than 20,000 injuries claims from workers in the retail sector. Here’s what they found:
- When a retail worker is injured on the job, they are out of work for an average of 24 days.
- The most common injuries involved falls or slips from ladders or scaffolding, with an average payout of $21,000, and for strains and injury by repetitive motion, with an average payout of $14,000.
- The most hazardous retail industries were food service, hardware, automobiles and accessories and hair styling establishments.
- Younger retail workers were more likely to suffer an injury compared to older employees, but older retail workers were more likely to suffer a more severe on-the-job injury.
- The average payout in the retail industry for a work injury was $11,641 for a man and $7,030 for a woman, although researchers suggest this is connected to males typically performing riskier tasks which result in more severe injuries and higher compensation potential.
If you have a couple minutes, we strongly recommend heading over to AmTrust Financial’s website to check out the interactive report, as it dives even deeper into the risks that many retail workers face day in and day out.
Getting Compensation
If you work in retail and suffer an injury, there may be pressure to push through the pain and keep working. Since many retail jobs are not physically intense in nature, you may feel that you do not have a legitimate claim to miss work and that you should just push through the pain. This is admirable, but incorrect. Workers are a protected class, and whether you’re shoveling stone or working at a desk, if you suffer an injury on the job, you are entitled to compensation. Don’t let management or coworkers tell you otherwise.
The best thing you can do after an injury is to set up an appointment with a workers’ compensation lawyer. We offer free case reviews where we’ll sit down with you, go over the incident and discuss your compensation options. This meeting only takes about 10-15 minutes, and it can kickstart your journey to a large compensation award. Don’t pass up this opportunity because you don’t want to take a 15 minute meeting.
At Hey Workers, we only get paid when you win your case, so we’ll completely manage your case and take the stress out of the equation in order to get you the biggest payday possible. As the study shows, retail injuries are common, they can knock you out of work for weeks, and awards tend to land in the low five-figures. Get what you deserve by contacting a work injury lawyer in your area today.
