Grocery store workers, like everyone else who works for a company with more than one employee in Ohio, are covered by their employer’s workers’ compensation policies if they're injured or contract an occupational disease on the job. So the answer is yes, you can file for workers’ comp.
Typical Grocery Store Employee Injuries
As governors across the country issued stay-at-home orders in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, grocery store workers were suddenly included on the list of essential workers along with doctors, nurses, and postal workers. While it’s generally a good thing to be employed while many others have lost their jobs, working in a grocery store isn't without hazards.
Besides the risk of being exposed to infected customers, grocery store cashiers, stockers, and food preparers are at high risk of other kinds of injuries depending on the work they do, including:
- Lacerations and stab wounds. Food preparation workers handle sharp knives, meat slicers, and even power saws to package food in the butcher shop, deli, bakery, and produce department.
- Lifting injuries. Stocking shelves involves lifting heavy items and repetitive motions, resulting in back strains and other musculoskeletal injuries.
- Leg, back, and foot injuries. The prolonged standing required of cashiers and baggers can cause a variety of leg, back, and foot injuries.
- Fall injuries. Wet floors, particularly in the produce department, can cause workers to slip and fall. Climbing on ladders to stock shelves or build displays also puts workers at risk of fall injuries.
- Repetitive-use injuries. Almost every worker in a grocery store in engaged in repetitive tasks. Reaching for items, scanning at the checkout, bending and lifting, and bagging groceries can take their toll during an eight-hour shift.
Because many stores are understaffed these days, the pressure on workers has increased, and so has the likelihood of injury.
Contact Monast Law Office If You Have Trouble Filing a Claim
If you're injured as an employee at Kroger, Giant Eagle, Walmart, or another grocery store in Ohio, report your injury right away and ask your supervisor about filing a workers’ comp claim. If you have any problems with the process, contact Monast Law Office for help. We also offer a free resource, The Worker’s Guide to Injury Compensation in Ohio, available as an instant download. You've worked hard to support a community in need at a difficult time and get the workers’ comp benefits to which you're entitled if injured on the job.
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