LAWFUL WORKERS COMPENSATION AND TORTS BASIC INFORMATION AND TUTORIALS

Every state has a workers’ compensation system that operates to automatically compensate, or pay, employees who are injured on the job. Employers make regular contributions to a state fund or buy
insurance for this purpose.

Workers are compensated for injuries that occur in the course of their employment. However, they
do not have to go to court to prove that their employer was at fault. Workers also receive a portion of their salary while they are recovering and unable to work.

Many states provide employees with two-thirds of their regular salary. In exchange, the injured employee usually gives up the right to sue his or her employer. Accidents that occur while the employee is commuting to or from work are rarely covered.

Unlike the plaintiffs in typical tort cases, workers can usually recover monetary damages for their injuries even if they were negligent.

However, workers’ compensation statutes generally deny recovery when the accident was caused by the employee’s intoxication. In addition, nearly half of the states either reduce or prohibit recovery when a worker’s refusal to follow safety rules caused the accident.

For example, a welder who is blinded on the job after ignoring repeated warnings to wear safety goggles would not be able to recover money under workers’ compensation statutes in some states.

The amount of money awarded for a specific injury is limited according to a schedule the state determines. The schedule sets the amount a worker can recover based on the seriousness of the injury, the amount of time the worker is expected to be out of work, and the worker’s average weekly wage.

Workers cannot usually recover additional damages from the employer through a civil tort action. This means that workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy, or the only compensation for on-the-job injuries.

A worker who is injured on the job must notify the employer. Often the employer will ask a doctor to certify the injury. Then either the employer or the injured employee will file a claim.

After the claim is filed, the injured employee will regularly receive a workers’ compensation payment, just like a paycheck. The payments will continue until the employee can return to work or recovers from the injury.

Many states have a workers’ compensation commission that hears claims and decides how much money will be given to injured workers. If the commission decides that little or no money should be given, the injured person may appeal to a court.