If an injured employee has access to worker’s compensation, then, in most instances, he or she does not have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit against an employer. Still, there are times when an employee that has been covered by worker’s compensation does have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit against his or her employer.
Element that must be present in any of the allowed lawsuits:
The plaintiff must be able to prove that the employer was negligent. If the employer’s actions represented a reasonable approach to the situation, the one related to the injury-causing accident, then the plaintiff would find it hard to prove that the same employer could be declared negligent.
An employee that has been injured on the job can sue the employer if that same boss has failed to offer worker’s compensation.
Employees that are covered by worker’s compensation do not usually have the legal right to file a lawsuit against any of their employers. Naturally, if a worker does not enjoy the protection offered by worker’s compensation, then he or she must pursue a lawsuit, in order to seek a fair compensation for his or her injuries.
Lawsuit allowed if employee injured due to workplace violence.
If the employer took immediate action, in an effort to correct the problem, then the courts might not allow the lawsuit. In the absence of such action, the employee should be allowed to move forward with the lawsuit.
An exception that has been made in some states
In some states an injured employee is allowed to file a lawsuit against an employer if the employee’s injury was aggravated by a certain action that had been taken by the employee’s boss. For instance, it could be that the employer/boss covered-up or lied about the injury. If evidence supported such a charge, then the injured worker would have grounds for moving forward with a lawsuit.
How should an injured employee proceed, if the circumstances surrounding an incident seem to match with those that allow for an exception?
First, the injured worker should file a worker’s comp claim. If that claim has not been made available, then the worker needs to contact a Personal Injury Lawyer in Sherwood Park rand plan on suing the em
ployer/boss. Otherwise, the worker needs to see what other actions might be taken by the boss/employer.
For instance, if the worker’s injury was caused by workplace violence, then it becomes necessary to see what the employer’s next action might be. If that action appears to address the problem, a court might not allow pursuit of a lawsuit. However, if the employer tried to cover-up the worker’s injury, then that would allow for pursuit of a personal injury lawsuit.