After a qualified work-related accident, an injured Maryland worker will likely be eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits through their employers.
Workers’ compensation offers employees in this state a lot of advantages.
For one, the benefits are awarded on a no-fault basis, meaning an employee doesn’t have to prove that their employer did anything wrong before they can collect benefits. In fact, an employee could even be partially responsible for their own injury and still expect their employer’s insurance provider to pay benefits.
The system is designed so that employees can get help with medical bills and other eligible expenses efficiently.
The program will pay an injured worker for medical and other expenses. It will also cover a significant portion of an employee’s lost wages.
However, there are tradeoffs involved with receiving workers’ compensation.
The program does not compensate a worker for things like pain and suffering or emotional distress. Even if it is hard to put a dollar figure on these non-economic losses, they are still very real in the lives of victims.
Likewise, in exchange for providing workers’ compensation, an employer is usually protected from lawsuits at the hands of their injured employees.
In short, workers’ compensation is an important benefit, but an injured Maryland worker may need more to be made truly whole after an injury.
Suing at-fault parties
On this note, there are many situations where someone aside from a victim’s employer is legally responsible for a work-related accident.
A common example is when a worker gets hurt in a motor vehicle accident while driving for work.
If a negligent driver caused the worker’s injuries, then the worker still can sue the negligent driver even if they do get workers’ compensation. They can ask for non-economic damages as part of their lawsuit.
There are other situations in which worker may be able to sue a third party for a workplace accident as well.
Workers’ compensation will not pay for everything. However, a victim of a workplace accident may have additional legal options available to them.
