Georgia Workers' Compensation Lawyer Blog

Georgia workers' compensation law provides that an aggravation of an old, pre-existing injury is treated as a new accident. Sometimes, such an aggravation does not occur in one specific incident or trauma, but rather happens over time while working at a more strenuous job.

If you aggravate an injury by working at a later job that requires, for example, more heavy lifting, more frequent bending, or more climbing than did your old job, and you have to leave the new job as a result, the last day you were able to work is labeled a "fictional new accident." This often means litigation between the injured worker and the two employer (and/or two insurance companies).

For more information and guidance on legal issues like the ones a "fictional new accident" can present, please contact my Atlanta workers' compensation law office :

Moebes Law, LLC
3535 Piedmont Road NE
Building 14, Suite 410
Atlanta, GA  30305
(404)354-5432

Georgia workers' compensation law contemplates past injuries and their propensity to "flare up" or "aggravate" months, or even years, after an injury when an employee continues working.  Oftentimes when I'm consulting with an injured worker in Atlanta, he will be concerned that the pain he's feeling while working will not be a compensable workers' compensation injury, because he has had previous pain of a similar nature in years past.  This scenario often arises with backs, knees, carpal tunnel syndrome, or shoulders. 

The good news is that your aggravation of a previous injury may very well be compensable.   Georgia workers' compensation law recognizes that workers often reinjure themselves when they continue to work, even after a successful surgery and rehabilitation.  If you have questions about whether or not the pain you're feeling while working qualifies as a new workers' compensation injury under Georgia law, please feel free to contact me, an Atlanta workers' compensation expert.