A Florida man whose genitals were damaged while working at a temp job is suing the staffing company that sent him there.
Workplace accidents are a serious concern, especially when they have a long-term effect on the injured worker. Florida worker Edgardo Toucet’s life will never be the same after his penis and testicles were cut off by a foam-cutting machine.
Toucet is suing Spartan Staffing temp agency, which sent him to work at Future Foam Carpet Cushion Company near Orlando, Florida in January 2010. He originally filed against the company where he was working, but it was dismissed. The new suit alleges that Spartan was responsible for ensuring his safety because it assigned him to the job. It also claims Spartan was aware of other workers who had similar accidents on the same machine.
“You can only imagine” what he is going through, one of his lawyers, Michael Valen told The Huffington Post.
The papers filed in court claim the safety guard on the blade had been intentionally removed before Toucet used it, and that the emergency off-switch on the equipment, called a peeler machine, only worked occasionally.
The native Puerto Rican, who is married with children, received no formal traing and spoke no English at the time, and was given instructions in broken English and hand signals.
The suit only specified that Toucet is asking for more than $15,000 in damages, the amount sought overall "is significant," Valen said.
