Upon being injured in a workplace accident, you may seek workers’ compensation to allow a flow of money to aid you while you recover from injuries. A workplace accident can happen at any time. Although these accidents are less likely in an office environment, they can still occur. Construction workers probably experience these accidents most often due to the physical nature of their job. When workers are injured in the workplace or on a job site, they have the right to seek compensation for their accident and injuries that came from this accident. This can aid them while they are healing from their injuries and unable to work. For these accidents, the employee is not held responsible. If they seek workers’ compensation, this does not mean they are admitting fault for an accident that occurred. Instead, workers’ compensation protects both the employee and the employer. Neither party is held responsible for the accident that occurred.
Can a third party be held responsible?
If an employee seeks workers’ compensation, they are unable to file a lawsuit against their employer. Workers’ compensation protects the employer from this action. This form of compensation also allows employees to keep their jobs. Before this was put in place, workers would often have to sue their employers in order to gain compensation for injuries, which resulted in their release from their role. Now, that is not an issue. However, employees can still file a lawsuit against a third party that was somehow involved in the accident. The third party may have contributed tools or other means to the accident in question. This can lead them to be held responsible. Although the employee can seek workers’ compensation then file a lawsuit, they may have to pay back the workers’ compensation they were given if they win the case against the third party.
Workers’ compensation provides employees with the options they need to recover from an accident. These accidents can have a toll on their physical health. When their physical health is affected, it can have an effect on their ability to carry out their duties as an employee.
Stathis & Leonardis, LLC is an experienced personal injury law firm in Middlesex County, New Jersey that is committed to helping clients who have been hurt because of the negligence of another party. If you have been involved in a motor vehicle accident or were injured on another person’s property, contact our firm today.
