Hurt on a Job Site in Spartanburg County
Get treated first. A coworker or someone in your family can work through this list while you're in the hospital.
- 911, then the ER. Explain to each doctor exactly what happened on site, and go to every follow-up and therapy session.
- Tell your employer. Do it as soon as you can. Your foreman or super needs to hear it, from you or a relative, and a follow-up text or email gives you a dated record.
- Photos, only if safe. If you or a coworker can safely and lawfully do it, photograph the scaffold, ladder, trench, guardrail or machine. Stay out of restricted areas and don't move equipment.
- List everyone on site. Your crew, other trades, the GC's superintendent and whoever was running the lift or loader.
- Hang on to damaged gear. Boots, harness, hard hat, tools. Ask that the equipment and site records be kept, not fixed or tossed.
- Keep pay records. Stubs, time sheets and anything the insurer mails you.
- Slow down on releases. Lots of workers have a lawyer read statements and releases before signing.
Where Crews Get Hurt Around Spartanburg
Warehouses and distribution centers keep going up along I-85 and I-26 near Duncan, Wellford and Fairforest. New subdivisions fill in around Boiling Springs, Lyman and Inman. Interstate bridge repairs and lane closures put road crews a few feet from traffic.
Workers' Comp Deadlines
On-the-job injuries in South Carolina mostly go through workers' compensation, which has its own rules.1 You generally must tell the employer about the accident no later than 90 days after it, and file a claim with the Workers' Compensation Commission within two years.4 Different timing rules may apply to repetitive trauma injuries and occupational diseases that develop over time.5 Report right away instead of letting the 90 days run down.3
See workers' comp claims in Spartanburg for more.
Want someone to look at your situation?
Talk with our team about what happened and ask the questions on your mind.
Suing Someone Besides Your Employer
Workers' compensation is generally the exclusive remedy against a covered South Carolina employer, although limited exceptions exist.6 An injured employee may also be able to pursue a personal injury claim against a responsible third party, such as an equipment manufacturer.2
A big site has a general contractor, subs and sub-subs, and not all of them count as third parties. South Carolina's statutory-employer doctrine can extend that immunity to some contractors or other businesses.67 Whether a company on your site can be sued turns on how the companies connect and what each was doing.
Two Kinds of Claims, Two Clocks
Comp benefits and a lawsuit against an outside company aren't either-or. Each has its own rules and its own deadline.2
Most South Carolina personal injury lawsuits must be filed within three years, while a workers' compensation claim generally must be filed within two years.84 The three-year limit is for a lawsuit, and dealing with an insurer doesn't stop it.9 Tort Claims Act suits against a state or local government entity generally must be filed within two years, and a three-year deadline may apply with a qualifying verified claim.10 Damage caps and special procedures may also apply.11
Which clock matters most in your case is something to settle with a lawyer early.
Talk With Us
We want to hear what you were doing when it happened. Years in the trades build skills that depend on a working body, and we take that seriously. If you hire us, the insurers can usually deal with us, and we'll talk honestly about your options.
We take cases across South Carolina, including Spartanburg County. When a tool or machine failed, see defective product claims in Spartanburg. The statewide page covers construction injury claims too.
Call and tell us about the job, the companies on it and how you got hurt.
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 like everybody says?
Not for workers' comp. An injured worker generally must tell the employer no later than 90 days after the accident and file a workers' compensation claim within two years.34 A separate personal injury suit against a third party usually has three years.8 Talk to a lawyer about timing sooner rather than later.
I was driving past a job site on Boiling Springs Road and got hurt. Is that workers' comp?
Probably not. Comp covers people hurt while working.1 Most personal injury claims in South Carolina must be filed within three years.8 Lawsuits under the Tort Claims Act against a state or local government entity generally must be filed within two years, and a three-year deadline may apply if a qualifying verified claim was first filed.10
My foreman told me not to file. Now what?
Can I get started by phone from Spartanburg?
The first conversation can happen by phone. Our office is on King Street in Charleston.
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.
