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Lifting injuries are the most common way workers get hurt on the job, and they are also the injuries insurers fight hardest. A single heavy lift can herniate a disc or tear a muscle, and years of lifting can wear a body down. If you were hurt lifting at work in Bucks County, Pennsylvania law gives you the right to Bucks County workers’ compensation benefits. For over 34 years, Lerner, Steinberg & Associates has fought for injured workers across the county and helped them recover the medical care and lost wages they are owed.
Pennsylvania workers’ compensation covers almost every worker hurt lifting on the job, no matter who caused the injury. Whether your back gave out moving a single heavy load or your shoulder wore down after months of repetitive lifting, your employer’s insurance must pay for your medical treatment and replace part of your lost wages while you recover.
Benefits for lifting injuries include all reasonable and necessary medical care, wage loss benefits equal to about two-thirds of your average weekly wage, specific loss benefits for the permanent loss or loss of use of a body part, and death benefits in the rare fatal cases. You do not need a dramatic accident to have a valid claim. An injury that builds up over a shift, a week, or longer from the ordinary demands of your job is just as compensable as one from a single lift.
Heavy lifting drives the economy of lower Bucks County. The warehouses and distribution centers along the Route 1 and I-95 corridors in Bristol, Bensalem, and Fairless Hills keep thousands of workers lifting, carrying, and loading for entire shifts, often under strict quotas that push the body past its limits. Manufacturing plants have workers moving materials and finished goods by hand, while grocery and retail stores keep stockers and delivery drivers hauling freight.
Some of the hardest lifting in the county happens in healthcare. Nurses, aides, and nursing-home staff lift and reposition patients many times a day, and those repeated strains cause some of the most serious back and shoulder injuries we see. Construction workers, movers, and landscapers round out the trades where a torn disc or blown-out shoulder can end a career. Wherever the lifting happens, workers’ compensation is meant to cover the treatment and recovery.
Lifting injuries range from a pulled muscle to a career-ending spinal injury. We handle workplace lifting and overexertion claims of every kind, including the following.
A heavy or awkward lift can rupture a spinal disc, pressing on nerves and causing severe back and leg pain.
Overexertion tears the muscles and ligaments of the lower back, the single most common workplace injury.
Lifting overhead or catching a falling load tears the rotator cuff, often requiring surgery and long rehab.
The strain of a heavy lift can push through the abdominal wall, causing a hernia that needs surgical repair.
Lifting and carrying loads strains the neck and upper spine, causing herniated discs and nerve pain.
Months or years of repeated lifting wear down joints and the spine, a valid injury even with no single event.
Lifting and back injuries are denied more often than almost any other workers’ comp claim, and the reason is almost always the same. Insurers argue that your herniated disc or worn shoulder is a “pre-existing” or “degenerative” condition caused by age rather than your job. Do not accept that. Under Pennsylvania law, if your work aggravated, accelerated, or worsened a prior condition, that aggravation is itself a compensable work injury, even if you had some wear and tear before.
Winning these cases comes down to medical evidence and timing. Prompt reporting, an honest description of how the injury happened, and the right medical documentation are what defeat the pre-existing defense. Our attorneys work with treating doctors to tie your injury to your job and push back on insurer independent medical exams designed to cut off your benefits.
Most lifting injuries are pure workers’ comp claims, but not all. When a defective hand truck, a broken pallet jack, an unsafe loading dock owned by another company, or a staffing agency’s dangerous quota contributed to your injury, you may have a separate personal injury claim against that third party, which can also recover the pain and suffering that workers’ comp does not pay. Our attorneys review every lifting case for that possibility so no source of compensation is missed.
Warehouse, delivery, and staffing-agency workers are often labeled independent contractors to avoid paying for workers’ compensation. In Pennsylvania, that label does not automatically remove your right to benefits. The law looks at how the work was actually controlled and performed. Our attorneys challenge improper classifications that try to deny injured workers the coverage they have earned.
Pennsylvania sets firm deadlines, and missing even one can end your right to compensation. Three separate clocks matter in every lifting-injury case.
Because these deadlines move quickly, the safest step is to speak with a lawyer soon after your injury. You can review the state’s official program through the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, then reach out to our office for guidance.
For more than three decades, Mike Lerner and Ben Steinberg have handled workers’ compensation and injury cases for people across Bucks County, and they work on every lifting-injury case personally. You deal directly with an attorney, never a case file. They know exactly how insurers use the “pre-existing condition” argument to deny back and shoulder claims, and they know how to beat it.
We pursue every avenue of recovery, including workers’ comp and third-party claims, and we work on a contingency basis, so you owe no fee unless we win. If you were hurt lifting at work anywhere in Bucks County, contact our office for a free consultation and an honest review of your claim.
