If you were hurt while on-the-job in an Atlanta-area Home Depot store, find out what workers’ compensation benefits are available.
First, seek medical help immediately and then tell your manager about your injury.
Next, you should contact an experienced Atlanta workers’ compensation attorney at Gerber & Elkins Workers’ Compensation Attorneys to discuss your rights and ensure you receive the maximum benefits available to you under Georgia labor laws.
What benefits are available to injured Home Depot employees?
Under Georgia law, Home Depot must provide workers’ compensation insurance for its employees. It’s also important to note that Georgia’s workers’ comp system is “no-fault,” which means the injured employee doesn’t have to prove that Home Depot (or another employee of Home Depot) was liable for the injuries sustained. Injured Home Depot employees are entitled to the same benefits as all Georgia workers.
Namely, these benefits include compensation for an injured worker’s:
- Lost wages
- Medical bills
- Rehabilitation expenses
- Funeral and burial costs (in a fatal work accident)
What to do after an accident or injury at work?
There are 3 important things an injured employee should do after a workplace accident to help secure their chances of collecting the maximum benefits available to them under Georgia law:
Seek medical help
immediately.
Tell your supervisor so that a work injury claim can be filed as soon as possible.
Contact a workers’ compensation attorney as soon as possible.
You should also understand that there are time limits on filing your claim. After you’ve been injured on the job, you have 30 days to report your injury to your supervisor or manager. If no action is taken by Home Depot to file a workers’ compensation claim, then you have 1 year to file notice with the State Board of Workers’ Compensation.
Did you know that workers’ compensation rules vary depending on the state where you were hurt? For more information on workplace injuries and other frequently asked questions about Georgia workers’ compensation and disability benefits, visit our FAQs page.
Marietta, Georgia is home to the first 2 Home Depots ever opened, and the company still calls the region home with its headquarters located about halfway between downtown Atlanta and Marietta.
Shortly after the first stores opened in 1979, the company branched out to Florida. By 1984, the company had 19 stores. Fast-forward 35 years and the company now employs more than 400,000 people at more than 2,280 stores in every state in the country, as well as stores in all 10 provinces of Canada.
Home Depot operates 60 stores in metro Atlanta alone, employing more than 10,000 residents.
To say that Home Depot is important to Georgia’s economy is an understatement, boasting sales that top $10 billion annually. But being the largest employer in the state and one of the largest in the US also means being responsible for a lot of people’s wellbeing. Unsurprisingly, large companies—including Home Depot—often try to lowball or deny work injury claims at first in order to protect their profits, at the expense of the hardworking people whom they employ.
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“I have the best experience with Natalie Elkins and her PA who was wonderful with the process I was going through. They lead me in the right direction and keep me from being overwhelmed. I’d give them more stars if it was allowed and would recommend her to anyone needing help.”
“Gerber and Elkins is, hands down, one of the best firms to work with. From a call and email from Ben Gerber to answer all my questions to Karen Lovell going above and beyond to handle my case. They did an amazing job and have the best level of communication I have ever come in contact with. While I hope I never need them again, I know if I by chance do, I will choose them again in a heartbeat.”
Common types of accidents and major hazards
Unfortunately, it’s common for Home Depot associates to be injured on the job. In stores throughout North America, employees get injured frequently—but the severity of the accident varies greatly. A Home Depot associate may work a variety of jobs from day-to-day, including sales floor work, unloading freight, collecting carts, running a cash register and restocking shelves. Each job has its own hazards and if an associate isn’t properly trained to run certain equipment, injuries can result.
Common injuries include:
- Car/truck accidents while on the clock
- Back injuries such as a pinched nerve or herniated disk
- Serious trauma caused by forklift injuries when a co-worker accidentally backs into another worker.
- Catastrophic impact injuries from falling from a ladder or high shelf
- Muscle strains from repeatedly lifting heavy items
- Slip and falls due to slick floors or a wet parking lot
- Cuts to hands or extremities
- Concussions
- Bursitis
- Ankle injuries
Home Depot associates are often called upon to help customers with a wide variety of requests, from cutting plywood or 2x4s to climbing ladders to reach stock high up on shelves. They put themselves at risk each day. Other times, an associate might be asked to mix paint, cut keys or glass, or lift heavy items.
At any time, an associate could suffer a life-altering injury and be left unable to work. Home Depot sales associates have even been killed on the job and death benefits have been sought by family.
Client success
Our record of winning accident cases in Georgia speaks for itself:
Contact an experienced Georgia workers’ compensation attorney
Whether you work for Home Depot or another big-box store in Georgia, it’s important you understand your rights if you get injured on the job. Seek out a knowledgeable Atlanta attorney at Gerber & Elkins Workers’ Compensation Attorneys. We will review your case, explore your best options, and ultimately do what’s right for you and your family. No one knows the workers’ compensation laws in Georgia better than attorneys Ben Gerber, Natalie Elkins and their team of legal experts.
Don’t delay any longer.
In the news:
Home Depot founders pledge $20 million to help veterans and first responders with PTSD
In February 2021, Home Depot founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank committed a $20 million investment to aid the mental health of veterans and first responders suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). With this donation, they plan to create 20 new mental health centers across the U.S.
“This is not a mental health issue, said Marcus in an interview with Fox Business. “This is an issue of not being able to cope with the world as it is. And there’s been very few treatments that have been very successful. Our treatment we’ve had in place now for about 8 years, Operation Share in Atlanta, has operated and we’ve had hundreds of these people through our program.”.
He went on to say:
Around 3 million men and women have been deployed overseas since September 11, 2001. Blank says, “A third of them have come home with the kind of either mental health issues, mental wellness issues or physical issues that Bernie is describing of the first responders.”
Blank says that their program is comprehensive as it deals with physical injuries workers and soldiers sustain as well as the invisible psychological issues. They can’t wait to take their program nationwide and have plans for 23 sites to be functional within the next few years.
When asked how their centers will be different from the treatment veterans are already receiving, Marcus says that they specialize in treating people as individuals. They understand that there’s not a magic pill for PTSD to cure it. Instead, they focus on their comprehensive program and have seen good results from the Marcus Brain Center based in Colorado.
“Ninety-five percent are now achieving a lifestyle that they could live with. And those numbers have never been achieved before by anybody that we’re aware of,” said Marcus. “The numbers are like 55 to 60 percent and they were able to go back and function in life, become husbands and wives again, be family-oriented, keep a job of being able to focus, be able to sleep at night and have the nightmares that they had before.”
The other thing that differentiates this program is that it’s free of charge for those in need. It’s simply there to help first responders and veterans get back on track.
