Beyond Workers' Comp: Employer Liability for Serious Injuries
Most of the time when employees are injured on the job, workers' compensation provides the employee's only legal recourse but Florida courts have recognized a limited exception to this general rule.
March 31, 2011
Most of the time when employees are injured on the job in Florida, workers' compensation provides the employee's only legal recourse.Generally, the workers' compensation insurance company pays for medical treatments and lost wages, regardless of whether or not the employer was truly responsible for the injury. In exchange for not having to prove fault, workers are not allowed to pursue personal injury lawsuits.
In some cases this is a reasonable balance. When an on-the-job accident results in a loss of life, though, this balance becomes more difficult to justify.
To understand what this means for a worker and his or her family, consider the recent tragic situations at two of Florida's more prominent employers -- SeaWorld Orlando and Walt Disney World. At SeaWorld, an employee responsible for training killer whales was drowned by an orca. At Walt Disney World, a monorail driver was killed as the result of a train collision.
In both of these cases, the family members of the deceased employees will not be allowed to pursue wrongful death lawsuits. Under workers' comp, the most they will be eligible to receive is $150,000 for lost wages and $7,500 for funeral benefits -- an amount that hardly seems to compensate for the loss.
Florida courts have recognized a limited exception to this general rule. If employers intentionally harm employees or engage in conduct that is "substantially certain" to result in injury or death, they are not immune from liability. In this context "substantially certain," means that the business should have known that its actions were likely to lead to the injury or death of the worker; it is not necessary that the employer actually knew that the actions would lead to injury or death.
However, this exception is narrow, and many workers who are injured or killed on the job are left only with remedies through workers' compensation. For more information about the interaction of personal injury, wrongful death and workers' compensation, speak with an experienced attorney.
Article provided by Friedman Rodman& Frank PA
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