The Swaney Law Firm will celebrate its 25^th year of business on April 1, 2009. The firm was founded by Jeff Swaney who was eager to set up his own practice. At first, the practice was confined to friends, relatives and acquaintances, but soon the practiced blossomed.

In the late 80’s, Jeff Swaney took out his first yellow pages advertisement. Eventually, the firm grew and the advertising grew. Over time, the firm became somewhat famous for the fact that a picture of the firm members appeared on the back of the Yellow Pages Directory.

In the early years members of the firm worked exclusively in the South St. Louis area. Clients were seen at the South City office located on Hampton Avenue. Attorneys would schedule appointments with Personal Injury, Workers’ Compensation, Social Security Disability, and Traffic clients. Eventually, the firm began handling Bankruptcy and Debt Collector Harassment and Abuse cases. As the firm grew, it began getting clients from surrounding communities like Affton, Marlborough, Kirkwood, Webster Groves, Maplewood, Brentwood, Clayton, University City, Crestwood and Sunset Hills.

After several years, another office was established in Overland. With the opening of that office members of the firm began to represent clients from St. Ann, Florissant, University City, the outskirts of Clayton, St. Charles and Maryland Heights. In time, the firm decided to relocate its North County office to Bridgeton. The firm was able to expand its base of operation and began obtaining clients from Hazelwood, Florrisant, Olivette, and St. Charles, Creve Couer, Manchester, Ballwin and Chesterfield. A South County office soon followed, and this move expanded the firm’s clientele into the South County area. The firm began seeing a flow of clients from LeMay, Hillsboro, High Ridge, Oakville, Arnold, Valley Park and Fenton.

At one point, the firm experimented with opening two offices in St. Charles County. The first office was located in St. Charles and the second office was located in Weldon Springs. Eventually the firm decided that these locations were too remote, but by then, the firm had established a loyal clientele from St. Peters, O’Fallon Wentzville and St. Charles, and even from more remote areas like Cottleville, Defiance, Troy,Wright City and Warrenton.

Originally the firm concentrated it practice on handling Missouri Workers’ Compensation cases, Automobile Accident/Injury claims and Social Security Disability Claims. Eventually the firm expanded into the areas of Bankruptcy and Debt Collector Harassment and Abuse/Consumer Protection cases.

It is amazing that over the years we have also represented numerous individuals from remote places like Farmington, Columbia, Jefferson City and Springfield and Moberly. At one point, when TWA was at its peak , there were numerous clients who were St. Louis based flight attendants but came from cities all across the country.

Illinois workmans compensation and personal injury clients also crossed the river from Belleville, Cahokia Alton Granite City, Edwardsville, Columbia, East St. Louis and Waterloo.

At this time, the firm would like to thank all of those people who have made our success possible. We are privileged to be celebrating 25 years in business and we hope that we will be able to provide vital legal services to injured workers, car accident victims, slip and fall victims, Social Security claimants, and those seeking services in the area of Bankruptcy and Debt Collector Harassment and Abuse.

Submitted by Jeff Swaney FREE CONSULTATION 314-481-7778

For More Information, Please Visit the Swaney Law Firm website

Over my years in practice, I have represented thousands of clients who have used many different terms in order to describe the Workers’ Compensation system.  Sometimes there is confusion as to what these terms mean and many times these terms are inadvertently misused.  An example of these terms would be:  Work Comp Board, (“Workman’s Compensation Board”), Work Comp Division, “Work Comp Checks”, “Second Injury Fund”, Work Disability Fund, “Occupational Disease”, “Repetitive Trauma”, “Self-Insured”and “Work Comp Referee”

I am going to try to clear up the terms in order to more precisely describe the Missouri Workers’ Compensation system.  First of all, the correct title for the system which records claims and provides a judicial system is called the “Missouri Workers’ Compensation Division”.  The Missouri Workers’ Compensation Division falls under the larger umbrella of the Department of Labor and Industrial  Relations.  The Missouri Workers’ Compensation Division has its central office in Jefferson City and there are “branch offices” in places like St. Louis,  St. Charles, Cape Girardeau, Springfield, etc.   The Workers’ Compensation Division does not provide any benefits, but simply provides a system in order to report claims and settle disputes through Workers’ Compensation judges which are referred to as “Administrative Law Judges”. 

Benefits are paid by private insurance companies who provide coverage to employers throughout the State of Missouri.   An exception can be made for very large companies who post a bond and decide that they are big enough to pay their own claims directly.  These are called “self-insured companies”.   Large manufacturing companies who elect to become “self-insured companies” are required to place a bond with the State of Missouri in order to make sure that claims are covered.

There is not really a “Workers’ Compensation Board”.   However, there is a panel of three “Commissioners” who serve on what is known as the “Labor and Industrial Relations Commission”.  When an “award” is written after a hearing, the decision is final, unless the decision is appealed.  The appeal goes to the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission who has the power to let the decision stand, or to reverse the decision. 

The “Second Injury Fund” is a special state fund that receives its money based on an financial assessment which is made against employers when they pay their premiums to their insurance company.   This fund is set up in order to take into account prior injuries or disabilities which may affect an employee’s ability to work. Some people have been confused by the name and will call and say ”I have injured myself a second time, can I file a second injury claim.” This fund, however, is set up to consider previous injuries, not new ones.

An employee may be injured on the job in a number of different ways.  First, there can be an “accident” such as a fall down a flight of stairs.   There can also be an “occupational illness” caused by exposure to fumes, chemicals, or other elements.  Finally, there can be what is often referred to as a “repetitive trauma” which involves injuries which occur gradually from overuse.  The most common type of repetitive trauma injury, for example, would be what is known as “carpal tunnel syndrome”.   We see these repetitive trauma cases often from secretaries and typists who may work for hours on end at a computer.

As you can see, many of the terms which are used do not really fit our system today.  There is no such term ,for example, as a “Work Comp Referee”.   Because of the many terms which have been used by people over the years, it is sometimes difficult for the average person to understand Missouri Workers’Compensation. For example, they may  make a statement like “Workman’s Compensation is denying my case.”   This could mean that a private insurance company has denied their case, a judge heard the case and wrote a decision denying it, or it could mean that the case was appealed to the Industrial Commission where it was denied.  Our purpose in writing this article is to describe the precise terms which are presently used in order to avoid unnecessary confusion and help Missouri’s injured workers understand the system.

                                                Submitted by Jeff Swaney  FREE CONSULTATION 314-481-7778

For More Information, Please Visit the Swaney Law Firm website

I have decided to approach the subject of abuses by employers towards their employees in Workers’ Compensation cases.  I have seen a number of practices which I consider abusive and our firm is dedicated to preserving the worker’s right to pursue his Workers’ Compensation remedies.  My goal is to obtain as much feedback as possible in order to size up the problems which exist in the workplace.  I would ask for a lot of comments and I would suggest using initials after the comments in order to protect your identity.

One abusive practice which I have observed is that many employers do not offer to send an injured employee to doctor following an accident.  In some cases, they seem to be hoping that the injured employee will simply go away. 

A second practice is for employers to provide bonuses for “an injury-free workplace”.   The idea is that an employee with a legitimate claim will be intimidated from exercising his rights because his co-workers will be financially punished.  This practice is certainly contrary to the intent of the Workers’ Compensation law which mandates that significant injuries be reported to the Missouri Workers’ Compensation Division.  The same employers will claim that they have a procedure in place for workers to report injuries even though they have created a hostile and intimidating work environment.  Sometimes an employee will wait to report the injury and the employer will then say that the employee did not follow work procedures which require that the injury be reported.  In some cases, they will provide a reprimand or other disciplinary action based on the employee’s failure to report an injury immediately, even though they have a system in place which discourages reporting injuries.

Thirdly, I have seen an abusive practice in which an employer will “loan the employee” to another facility.   In most cases, the employer is receiving a discount on their premium because they have agreed to pick up a certain amount of the lost time benefits.  In one such case, an employee from Warren County was told that he needed to report to Forest Park because they had a light-duty job at one of the facilities.  The employee had a severely injured foot and was told that “transportation was not their problem”.  

Fourth, some employers have developed hypocritical drug-testing procedures in order to intimidate their employees.  While I do not condone use of marijuana, or any illegal substances, it is the hypocritical manner in which drug testing is administered that bothers me.  In many cases, the employer could care less if he has an employee who smokes marijuana and may even suspect that a number of employees would fail a drug test.  The employer in these instances will tell the employee that he can make a claim, but they will have to fire him if his drug test shows that he has been smoking marijuana.  In many cases, it is necessary for public safety purposes that drug testing be administered.  However, the employer’s phony concern occurs only after an employee has sustained a significant injury.   The policy is not put in place to insure that the work place is safe, but instead it is put in place in order to intimidate employees from exercising their rights.  For example, if a park worker is a passenger in a vehicle and that vehicle is in an accident, then what is the employer’s purpose for testing an injured worker who was simply a passenger?  If the test were administered to the driver in order to determine whether drugs or alcohol may have been a factor, then it would be understandable.

Fifth, I have observed a practice in which employers have required employees who are out of work to be available to answer their phone at any time during the course of the day.  The faulty reasoning is that, if the employee is going to be out of work, then he should be recuperating from his injuries and should not be engaging in any activities whatsoever outside of his home.  An injured employee may have a bad knee and may be recovering from knee surgery, for example, but this doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t be able to go out to lunch with a friend in order to break up his boredom. 

At this time, I am asking injured employees who are the victims of abusive employer practices to provide me with comments on my website.  I would like to gather as much information as possible about various abusive practices.  If you are a victim of one of the above-mentioned practices, then I would like to hear from you.  If you are aware of other abusive practices, then please inform me.  I look forward to hearing from as many of you as possible and will make sure to protect your anonymity. Submitted by Jeff Swaney FREE CONSULTATION 314-481-7778 

For More Information, Please Visit the Swaney Law Firm website