Protections for Injured Workers in Minnesota

Getting injured at work can be hard enough by itself. But when your employer takes improper actions against you following a work injury, it can be downright unbearable.

Thankfully, Minnesotans have legal protections against improper employer actions. In this article, we'll discuss just a few statutes that protect injured workers in Minnesota.

• The Minnesota Workers' Compensation Act makes it illegal for an employer to fire, or threaten to fire an employee because said employee is seeking workers' comp benefits. This protects employees from being fired simply because they are seeking compensation because of a work related injury.

• The Minnesota Human Rights Act is another statute that prevents employers from firing, refusing to hire, or discriminating against (in the form of hiring, compensation, terms, conditions, or privliges) a person based on a disability. This effectively limits the actions an employer can take to an injured employee.

• Federal statutes like the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 also provide protections to those injured in the workplace.

Despite all these legal protections, employers often violate injured workers' rights. Sometimes these actions are intentional, other times employers simply don't realize they're breaking the law. If you think your employer has violated your rights as an injured worker, contact a Minnesota Workers' Comp lawyer. You don't have to face this situation alone.