Blanchester, OH — There was an accident at a local restaurant in Blanchester, Gold Star Chili, that left a manager/owner and one of his employees with severe burns. It appears that owner Roger Elfar and a female employee wer working at the restaurant on Friday of last week when Elfar accidentally spilled some hot grease that he was carrying at the store onto himself and onto the female employee.
Both were rushed to a hospital, but Elfar’s burns appeared to be a bit more serious. The cause of the spill appears to be a simply accident, as the news said Elfar bumped into the other worker while carrying the grease.
Both victims here suffered second degree burns, the news said, but they’re expected to be okay.
Map of the Accident
Commentary:
In thinking about the legal restrictions that most states put on employees when it comes to work-related accidents, this kind of situation is actually quite common. A small business/franchise has an accident where an employee is injured, but the only benefits available to them are the ones provided by workers’ compensation.
The issue that most people have is that workers’ comp benefits aren’t ever enough to actually cover the damage done, but the courts have long since ruled that employers are to be protected from personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits. I know that most people think lawyers just want to sue everyone, but what they usually miss is that our aim is simply fair treatment.
Even the oft-misunderstood McDonald’s “hot coffee” case was about fair treatment, not taking a corporation for millions. I don’t have a lot of clever solutions up my sleeve, unfortunately, but I sincerely hope that legislators change things in the coming years so that workers injured in accidents like these have more legal options for recovery.
— Grossman Law Offices
