After a Job-Site Injury on Johns Island
Treatment comes first. A coworker or relative you trust can start on this list.
- Call 911 and get to the ER. Tell each doctor exactly how it happened on the site. Keep every follow-up and therapy visit.
- Report it. Tell your foreman or supervisor as soon as you can, or have family do it, then follow up by text or email so the date is on record.
- Photograph the scene if it's safe. A coworker can capture ladders, scaffolding, trench walls, guardrails and equipment, but only where it is safe and allowed. Nobody should enter a restricted area for a picture.
- Name every outfit on the lot. Your crew, the framers, roofers or electricians working nearby, the general contractor's super and whoever ran the lift or excavator. Photos of truck doors and job signs help.
- Keep damaged gear. Save the harness, boots, hard hat or tool, and ask that equipment and records be kept rather than repaired or tossed.
- Save pay records. Pay stubs, time sheets, cash receipts and insurer forms.
- Slow down on signatures. Many workers talk with a lawyer before signing a statement or release.
Building on the Island
New subdivisions, apartments and roadwork have kept Johns Island busy with crews, from the Maybank Highway corridor to the roads toward Kiawah and Seabrook. Framers, roofers, electricians, site crews and equipment operators often work on the same lot at once, and figuring out which company did what is part of any injury claim.
Workers' Comp Time Limits
Most on-the-job injuries in South Carolina go through workers' comp, which has its own rules.1 Workers generally must tell the employer within 90 days and file a comp claim within two years.4 Illnesses from the work itself, injuries that surface later and some other cases can follow their own timing.5 Report the injury early rather than waiting for the deadline to get close.3 See the statewide page on workers' comp claims.
Want someone to look at your situation?
Talk with our team about what happened and ask the questions on your mind.
Claims Against Someone Besides Your Employer
Against a covered employer, workers' comp is generally the only remedy, with narrow exceptions.6 A worker may sometimes bring a separate negligence or product claim against an outside party, such as the maker of a machine.2
On a crowded subdivision lot, some contractors may not count as outsiders at all. South Carolina's statutory employer rule can give companies higher up the chain the same protection from suits.67 It comes down to how the companies on the job were tied together and who was doing what.
Injury Claims and Their Time Limits
A comp claim and a third-party injury claim can exist side by side, but they follow different rules and deadlines.2 Most injury lawsuits must be filed within three years, while comp claims generally must be filed within two years.84 That injury-suit limit is about getting a case on file in court, and talks with an insurer leave it running.9
A claim against a state or local government body generally must be filed within two years, which a qualifying verified claim may extend to three years.10 Special procedures and damage caps may apply too.11 The statewide page covers construction accident claims in South Carolina.
Talk With Us About What Happened
We want to hear about the job you were doing when it happened. Construction work depends on your body and years of skill, and we want to understand that. If you hire us, the insurers can usually deal with us, and we talk honestly about your options.
Our office is on King Street in downtown Charleston. We take cases across South Carolina, including Johns Island, and the first conversation can happen by phone.
For the comp side alone, see Johns Island workers' comp claims. When a nail gun, saw or lift malfunctioned, our page on defective product claims may fit.
South Carolina Law on This
- Most injuries that happen on the job in South Carolina go through the workers' compensation system, which has its own rules, and usually limits suing your own employer.1
- In South Carolina, an employee injured at work may be able to receive workers' compensation benefits and also pursue a personal injury claim against a responsible third party, such as another driver. The workers' compensation insurer may have a right to reimbursement from any settlement or judgment. Special rules and deadlines apply when pursuing both claims.2
- An injured worker in South Carolina generally must tell the employer about a work accident right away, and no later than 90 days after it, to receive workers' compensation, unless an exception applies.3
- A South Carolina workers' compensation claim generally must be filed with the Workers' Compensation Commission within two years after the accident, or after a death it caused. Telling the employer does not count as filing. Occupational diseases and repetitive trauma follow different rules.4
- Different workers' compensation timing rules may apply to repetitive trauma injuries and occupational diseases that develop over time in South Carolina. The date a worker first experienced symptoms is not necessarily the date the filing deadline began.5
- Workers' compensation is generally the exclusive remedy against a covered South Carolina employer for a qualifying workplace injury, although limited exceptions exist. South Carolina's statutory-employer doctrine can extend that immunity to some contractors or other businesses, so they are not automatically third parties simply because they are not the worker's direct employer.6
- Under South Carolina workers' compensation law, a business that hires a subcontractor to perform work that is part of the business's own trade or operations may be considered a statutory employer. When this rule applies, the business can be responsible for workers' compensation benefits for the subcontractor's employees, even though it did not hire them directly.7
- Most personal injury claims in South Carolina must be filed within three years.8
- South Carolina's statute of limitations generally sets the deadline for filing a lawsuit in court. Simply opening a claim with an insurance company or negotiating with an insurance adjuster does not stop the statute of limitations from running.9
- Lawsuits under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act generally must be filed within two years after the loss was or should have been discovered. A three-year deadline may apply if a qualifying verified claim was first filed under the Act.10
- Claims against a South Carolina state or local government agency have their own filing deadline, which can be shorter, and there could be caps on damages under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act, depending on the facts of the case.11
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have three years after a construction injury?
I don't work there. I was hurt walking or driving past a site on the island. What then?
My boss told me not to file. What should I do?
I fell from a roof truss in a new subdivision. Where do I start?
Get care first. Then a family member can write down your employer, the company running the site and the other trades there that day, and start gathering photos and pay stubs.
Sources
- S.C. Code § 42-1-540
- S.C. Code § 42-1-560
- S.C. Code § 42-15-20
- S.C. Code §§ 42-15-20 and 42-15-40
- S.C. Code § 42-15-40
- S.C. Code §§ 42-1-400, 42-1-540; Keene v. CNA Holdings, LLC, 436 S.C. 1, 870 S.E.2d 156 (2021)
- S.C. Code §§ 42-1-400 through 42-1-420; Keene v. CNA Holdings, LLC (S.C. 2021)
- S.C. Code § 15-3-530
- S.C. Code §§ 15-3-20 and 15-3-530
- S.C. Code §§ 15-78-80 and 15-78-110
- S.C. Code §§ 15-78-110 and 15-78-120
This page is general information about South Carolina law, not legal advice for your situation. Every case depends on its own facts.
