I Was Injured at Work Can I Sue My Employer?

Today I want to answer the question “I was injured at work can I sue my employer?”

Well the answer is kind of, you can’t file a lawsuit against your employer, but you will receive workers compensation benefits which is kind of like a lawsuit.

Why you can’t sue your employer?

So, first let’s talk about why you can’t sue your employer there’s this concept under Georgia law that’s called the exclusive remedy.

What is exclusive remedy?

What exclusive remedy provides is that you get workers compensation benefits instead of the right to file a lawsuit against your employer.

So, the state of Georgia has decided for you that you can’t sue your employer for an injury that occurs at work and that’s the case even if your employer was negligent and caused your injuries you get workers compensation instead, this applies in almost all situations.

The good news is you get workers compensation benefits and workers compensation does have advantages over a lawsuit against your employer in some situations.

For example: you’ll generally receive medical and wage loss benefits much quicker in a workers compensation claim than you would in a lawsuit.

Medical and wage loss benefits generally, start within weeks after your injury occurs and it may start even sooner, in a typical lawsuit that you might file against your employer it may be years before you get to court and receive the benefits that you should for your medical treatment and your wage loss.

So, that’s a big advantage of workers compensation over the right to file a lawsuit.

The bad news is workers compensation doesn’t cover everything that a lawsuit recovers there’s some benefits that workers compensation doesn’t provide

The big benefit is pain and suffering it doesn’t cover your full wage loss benefits it covers a percentage of them instead.

So there are downsides to workers compensation over a lawsuit in some situations but the state of Georgia has made that choice for you you don’t get to decide whether you’re going to file a workers compensation claim or personal injury lawsuit.

State if decide for you that you’re going to get workers compensation and not have the right to sue your employer for a personal injury so that means that you need to make the best of your workers compensation claim and make sure that you receive all the benefits that you should under that claim.

When I can sue my employer?

Let’s talk about one other quick thing and that is there are some situations where you can file a personal injury lawsuit and a workers compensation claim and that’s where you have your workers compensation claim against your employer, but you also have someone else who caused your injuries so that you have the right to sue them in a personal injury claim.

For example: Car wreck, where you’re working and driving a vehicle and someone else crashes into you and is negligent causes you to get hurt well you may get workers compensation because you’re injured on the job, but you also have a personal injury lawsuit against the other individual that caused your injuries or even if there’s another company that caused your injuries you might have a personal injury lawsuit in that situation.

Video: Injured at work can I sue my employer?

Final Thoughts

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