I Received A Severance Package From Andersen Windows. Can I Still Collect Workers Compensation Benefits?

ABSOLUTELY YES!

In the current economy many employers are looking to eliminate costs wherever possible. Unfortunately for Minnesota employee’s who are currently working in light duty positions or returned to work with physical restrictions as the result of a Minnesota Workers Compensation injury, you are a target for downsizing. The laws are suppose to protect you from losing your job merely because you had a work injury but some employers do ignore these laws and terminate you anyway.

As a part of these layoffs, employers often offer voluntary resignations or severance package that purport to pay your benefits for a short period of time or offer a lump sum payment in exchange for a “full release of any and all claims”. A client recently asked me whether he was therefore precluded from pursuing his workers compensation claim. The answer is absolutely NO! Employment releases, including those with a voluntary resignation and/or full release of claims do not prevent you from pursuing an action for Minnesota Workers Compensation benefits.

In Minnesota your right to pursue workers compensation benefits is protected under state law and ONLY a workers compensation judge appointed by the Governor at the Office of Administrative Hearings may approve an agreement to waive or close out workers compensation benefits. Minnesota has created a somewhat paternalistic workers compensation system that mandates approval of any limitations on an injured workers ‘ rights to workers compensation benefits.

If you sustained a workers compensation injury at Andersen Windows and later lost your job, you may still be entitled to wage loss and rehabilitation benefits including retraining. Contact attorney Thomas Atkinson at Atkinson Law Offices and Minnesota Disability for a free consultation. Free means just what is stated, you pay nothing directly to our office even if we prevail and obtain a recovery for you. Contact Tom Atkinson at 651-324-9514 or tom@mndisability.com View our web site at www.mndisability.com

Injured Andersen Window Employee's Have Rights Following Layoffs

Andersen cuts more than 500 jobs

A plant closing last week cost 287 workers, and 250 more positions are to end, more than half of them at headquarters in Bayport.

By STEVE ALEXANDER, Star Tribune

Window manufacturer Andersen Corp. said Tuesday it will permanently eliminate 250 management and staff positions, more than half of them at its Bayport, Minn., headquarters.

In addition to the job cuts announced Tuesday, Andersen eliminated 287 jobs last week as part of the closing of a vinyl window manufacturing plant in Fall River, Mass., said Maureen McDonough, a spokeswoman.

Tuesday's workforce reduction represents about 10 percent of the company's management and office staff. Those cuts come at a time when 600 production workers who were laid off earlier this year have been recalled as orders have improved slightly.

The management and staff cuts are being made because the company believes its markets won't recover until late 2010 or early 2011, making it necessary to eliminate jobs that aren't directly related to the current volume of window production, McDonough said.

"While we had every hope and intention of riding out this market correction without making adjustments like this, it has become clear that these actions are necessary to protect the company's financial strength and flexibility given the fading prospects for a near-term housing market recovery," Jay Lund, president of the Andersen Window and Door Group, said in a statement.

Thomas Stinson, the state economist, said Andersen's timeline for a housing market recovery "is consistent with other forecasts I've seen" and that the company's decision to cut overhead expenses makes sense.

The company is right to be cautious because it could take the nation a long time to get back to a normal level of housing starts, he said. U.S. housing starts in 2008 were at the lowest level since World War II, and this year there will be only half as many new houses as there were last year, he said.