sometimes will be contacted by a person

who says that they were injured at work

or while working maybe even in a car

crash while working when you’re injured

on the job

there are a complete different set of

unique laws that apply to that event and

really it goes back more than 100 years

and there’s a trade-off that’s been

created between employers and employees

that employees probably don’t even know

anything about but if you go back say

150 years ago there were there were no

workers compensation benefits if you got

hurt on the job and your employer was

negligent you sued your employer you can

imagine what that looks like with a

workplace relationship right where the

employees in the midst of a lawsuit so

at some point there was a a reform that

is not really great for the employee it

was more employer driven but that

exchanges this if you are injured on the

job and if your employer purchased

Workers Compensation Insurance by

purchasing that Workers Compensation

Insurance the state grants immunity to

your employer against any other claims

you might be able to bring against the

employer other than your workers

compensation claim unless the employer

acted intentionally or with a great

willful disregard for your safety

essentially a very very high standard so

for the most part if you’re injured on

the job as it relates to the claims you

can make against your own employer or

workplace you’re limited to whatever the

workers compensation system in your

state

provides for you it’s grants immunity to

the employer and you’re stuck with the

benefits in the system now there are

some favorable Parts about it first of

all that system will pay all of your

medical expenses there’s a downside

there and that the employer gets to in

the first instance choose where you’re

going to go get your medical treatment

which seems kind of weird but that does

happen this system will pay for you if

you’re off of work it’ll pay for you if

you miss part days or full days from

work and it doesn’t pay a hundred

percent it tries to equal your post tax

net income up to a certain dollar limit

and then there’s some award that you can

receive from the system for any

permanent impairment that you have but

you get no compensation for pain or

suffering or inconvenience or for the

trauma or turmoil that you’ve been

through none of that in the workers

compensation system extremely important

though that you talk with a lawyer who’s

well versed in workers compensate Nation

because there’s a lot of little Avenues

and for instance if you just injure one

leg that’s a much lower value if it’s

injured permanently than if it’s your

leg and your low back that so there’s a

combination of things that those who

deal with workers compensation cases uh

can and do know about the system to

maximize the recovery and to make sure

in some cases there’s also penalties if

you are are

drinking or doing drugs there’s a

limited amount it’s fifty percent of the

benefits so there’s a lot there’s just a

there’s a lot of

legal issues that arise

but it’s within that workers

compensation system that you have to

tackle now there is an important

distinction if you’re in a car crash and

you’re on the job but the car crash is

caused by somebody else or you’re on a

work site and you’re injured but it’s

not caused by your co-employee it’s

caused by let’s say another

subcontractor’s employee then you may

have a workers compensation case you

will have one if you’re injured on the

job but you also may have what’s called

a third party case you still then can

have a case against the other driver or

the other contractor you just can’t

bring any other claims against your own

employer outside of the workers

compensation system so you can see it’s

pretty complex it’s important each state

has their own workers compensation

statutes you don’t get to go to court

you go to an administrative law process

it’s a very unique statutorily or

legally created system to handle

injuries that occur on the job and it’s

very important that you represent