According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) the number of teens in the workforce over the summer months has increased by over 2 million in the last year. This means there are many more opportunities for incidents of Connecticut workers’ compensation claims with these young people.
While there are more teens in the workforce, there becomes an increased risk of injuries to those teens who may find a need to miss work due to those injuries. In many cases, teens are more susceptible to a workplace injury than the average adult worker. There are a number of reasons for this including;
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Less experience: A teen who is new to the workforce is not only new to the overall workforce, but likely new to that particular job. No matter what the job is, a teen will likely have less experience than the average worker who is filling that job and therefore may be more likely to do something that will get themselves or someone else injured.
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Not enough time for sufficient training: When a teen is taking a job, especially a seasonal job, there may not be opportunity to do as much training as an employer might like, therefore the teen is ill prepared to face all of the duties of the job and may find her/himself getting injured due to lack of good training on a particular task.
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Lack of strength: Many jobs that require manual labor can be performed by teens, but in some cases they do not have the same level of strength as their adult counterparts. In this case, they may find themselves stretching their physical limits to do a part of the job that may lead to an injury.
While simply being a teenager does not indicate that you are going to get injured on the job, there are circumstances that may lead to injury. With that being said, if you are injured on the job you may file a Connecticut workers’ compensation claim. In that event you may need to speak with an experienced attorney who can work with you to navigate your claim. Contact our office and one of our board certified workers’ compensation attorneys may be able to work with you to protect your long-term interests.
