Call Us 919-240-4054A man who left his city job to serve his country is not entitled to sue under the Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA), according to a ruling by the United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Oakley Dean Baldwin, a municipal waste manager who served as a chief warrant officer […]
Law Blog
Truck drivers at increased risk for spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries
Spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury are among the many catastrophic injuries for which American truck drivers are at risk. According to a post by Dr. Michael Choo of Paradigm Outcomes, factors such as fatigue, long hours, highway conditions and difficult-to-maneuver vehicles contribute to truck drivers being at great risk of catastrophic injury on […]
Johnson & Groninger Celebrates Law Day
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice anywhere.” So wrote the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King from his cell in a Birmingham, Alabama jail in 1963. Dr. King’s words as well as his dream of equality for all Americans, is at the heart of the American Bar Association’s annual Law Day celebration. Law Day is […]
False Claims Act in the news, led to $3 billion in healthcare fraud judgments and settlements in 2012
Over the last several months, U.S. courts have seen significant activity involving the False Claims Act (FCA), a federal law amended in 1986 to allow individual citizens to sue companies for money damages if they have evidence that the companies have defrauded the taxpayers. If an FCA case is successful, the person who brings it […]
Workers’ comp roundtable helps attorneys better help their clients
Johnson & Groninger partner Valerie Johnson organized a roundtable discussion of issues regarding North Carolina Workers’ Compensation on April 12, 2013. The 18th Annual Workers’ Comp Roundtable was held in Raleigh at the North Carolina Advocates for Justice (NCAJ) headquarters on April 12 and was co-led by attorney J. Griffin Morgan of Elliot, Pishko, Morgan, […]
OSHA faulted for allowing North Carolina manufacturing workers to get occupational disease
The New York Times today published an article that exposes the hazards faced by workers in North Carolina and other states who are exposed to the chemical n-propyl bromide, or nPB. The chemical is used by workers in our state who glue together foam cushions for chairs and couches in the furniture industry. The workers in […]
Investigation shows preventable deaths in grain industry, OSHA oversight weak
National Public Radio and The Center for Public Integrity have been reporting this week on the results of an investigation into needless deaths from suffocation in grain storage bins. Nearly 500 farmers and workers have died in these bins in the last 40 years. The worst year on record was just recently, in 2010. The story is […]
Do you need a lawyer before or after you go to the EEOC?
We often receive calls from potential clients who have just received a “right to sue” letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Sadly, at this stage it is often too late for us to take the case. If you think you have been discriminated against or retaliated against you have the right to file a charge […]
State senator introduces bill to gut regulations protecting workers
State Senator Harry Brown, a business owner, has introduced Senate Bill 174, which, if it became law, would repeal a large number of regulations currently in place at the North Carolina Industrial Commission. Many of these regulations are important for the protection of injured workers. For example, the bill would repeal the regulations governing emergency medical […]
Court of Appeals says that employer had notice of injury, cannot direct medical care
Today, a three-judge panel of the North Carolina Court of Appeals held that an employee of Bank of America did not need to give written notice of his injury, where he was hit by a car while driving at work. The employee called his employer from the car, and several co-workers went to help him, […]
