Generally, when you are injured at work, workers’ compensation applies and regardless of who is at fault, the workers’ compensation insurance pays your medical bills and most of your wages. It is a no-fault system; thus, the cause of the injury is generally not an issue. As a result, your employer is entitled to immunity from being sued by you for your injuries under our tort system. HOWEVER, the law generally does permit you to sue THIRD PARTIES for your injuries, even when you are pursuing a workers’ compensation case. By example, if your boss sends you to the hardware store to purchase some products for a job and you are injured due to a leaky roof at the hardware store, you generally should have a workers’ compensation case to get your medical bills paid and most of your wages paid through your EMPLOYER’S insurance. However, there are some damages that are NOT compensable through worker’s compensation. For example, pain and suffering is generally not compensable through workers’ compensation. Also, the wages generally paid is at 66 percent, so you are not compensated for 33 percent of your wages. These sorts of damages would be part of your claim against the third party, in the example above the hardware store. That third party case would be a tort case and thus you would have to prove fault on the part of the third party or hardware store. And this general rule with workers’ compensation applies to all sorts of injury case: car accident, fall cases and essentially any injury case where someone is injured as a result of another’s negligence. Some people ask: would the workers’ compensation insurance be happy about such a claim? The answer likely is yes as under Florida law, the injured person is to seek to collect all their damages (including all medical bills and all wages) and if they collect, then the workers’ compensation insurance is entitled to recoup what they laid out for the medical bills and wages.
