Negligence lawsuits are powerful tools to get damages from people who hurt you through carelessness and inattention. However, Workers’ Compensation is supposed to be there to cover your damages instead of a lawsuit if your injury was work-related.
Because of this, you typically cannot sue your employer for negligence if your injury was work-related. Instead, Workers’ Compensation may be your best route to recovery. However, you can potentially sue your boss if you are not covered under Workers’ Comp, and you can sue third party defendants for negligence, even after Workers’ Comp pays.
For help with a potential injury case, call the Pennsylvania Certified Workers’ Compensation Lawyers at Cardamone Law at (267) 651-7945.
Can You Sue Your Employer?
Generally, the law prevents a lawsuit against your employer for work-related injuries. It used to be the case that people would sue their employers after work injuries, but this was a challenging system with many hold-ups that made it hard to get compensation. We shifted to Workers’ Compensation as a way of guaranteeing more coverage for work-related injuries.
For you to be able to sue your employer, you would have to prove they were the ones responsible for your injuries. In many cases, that isn’t actually how work injuries happen, with many workers being responsible for their own injuries and many accidents being caused by third parties.
If you could sue your employer, you would also have to prove they were at fault before you can get any payments, meaning a long delay. Workers’ Comp is often preferable to a lawsuit against your employer, overall.
Do You Have to Use Workers’ Comp After a Work Injury?
While you cannot sue, you do not, technically, have to use Workers’ Comp either. If you don’t file a Workers’ Compensation claim, you will not get compensation. That would leave you to pay for your injuries and care out of pocket, and it would not replace your lost wages.
Instead, filing a Workers’ Comp case is often necessary to get your damages paid. Workers’ Comp is a no-fault system that works somewhat quickly (compared to a lawsuit) to grant your benefits and get your medical care needs and lost earnings taken care of. While you could simply ignore it, that would often leave you in a bad financial situation.
What Damages Do I Miss Out On if I Can’t Sue?
Workers’ Compensation does not pay for all of your damages after an accident, meaning that you will miss out on certain costs if you file a Workers’ Compensation claim alone.
Our Philadelphia work injury lawyers can help you claim the following damages through Workers’ Comp:
- Medical care costs related to your work injury
- Replacement wages, usually at a rate of 2/3 of your normal pay, subject to certain limits
- “Specific loss” payments for permanent loss/amputation, lost function, lost hearing, lost vision, or facial scarring.
In contrast, a lawsuit would be able to reimburse for the following:
- Medical expenses
- Lost wages at 100%
- Other payments and expenses caused by the accident
- Pain and suffering, including emotional distress, mental anguish, and more.
If you could file a lawsuit instead, you would be able to get pain and suffering, the rest of your lost wages, and other costs included in the case.
Can You Sue Someone Else?
While you cannot sue your employer, you can sue virtually anyone else who might have caused the accident. This allows you to get Workers’ Comp, then claim the unpaid damages, such as pain and suffering, through this lawsuit.
These lawsuits are often called “third-party claims,” in that you are suing a third party outside of yourself and your employer. This can include anyone who caused your accident, such as a passerby, a customer, a vendor, a driver, or a contractor. It also commonly includes a company, such as the manufacturer of defective safety gear.
Can You File a Workers’ Comp Claim and a Lawsuit?
Although you still cannot sue your employer, you can potentially file both a lawsuit and a Workers’ Comp claim.
The Workers’ Comp claim is usually filed first, as your employer has short deadlines to decide whether or not to cover you. Your employer generally must cover any work-related injuries, even if they did not cause them or you caused them yourself. Even when denials are involved, benefits are often paid or cases are settled within 2-6 months of the injury in many cases.
After that, you can file a lawsuit. This can be filed against any outside party liable for the accident, but typically works best when there is an insurance policy covering the damages they caused you.
Lawsuits can often take a year or more to resolve, which is why it is so helpful to get urgent expenses and lost earnings covered first through Workers’ Comp.
How Does My Workers’ Comp Claim Affect My Lawsuit?
Workers’ Comp usually pays first, then your employer’s insurance carrier may be able to join your lawsuit or put a lien against your claim so that they can get reimbursed for anything they paid you.
This prevents you from being paid twice, stops them from having to pay for something a third party did, and prevents the third party from getting away with injuring you without paying for it.
Are There Exceptions That Allow You to Sue Your Employer?
You may be able to sue your employer for things other than work-related injuries, such as wrongful termination.
You can also sue them if you were injured while you were not working. For example, if you work at a home improvement store, and you went to buy something on your day off and suffered injuries in a slip and fall or a shelf collapse, that lawsuit would not be blocked by Workers’ Comp rules.
You can also sue if you are not an “employee” or you are otherwise not covered by Workers’ Comp. Businesses are not required to cover independent contractors, and independent contractors technically have a client rather than an “employer.” This might allow you to sue that person if your contract allows it and they caused your injuries through negligence.
There are also complex rules about how sole proprietors and certain corporate officers are treated, with a potential opportunity to choose whether to include yourself in Workers’ Comp or not.
Call Our Work Injury Lawyers in Pennsylvania
Whether you need help with a lawsuit or Workers’ Comp claim, call Cardamone Law’s Lancaster, PA work injury lawyers at (267) 651-7945 today.
