Q: Can I sue my employer over a work-related injury?

The purpose of the worker's compensation is to make the benefits available to you without having to sue your employer. However, there are certain egregious circumstances when the law does permit you to sue your employer in addition to receiving workers compensation benefits. To exercise on the side of caution, the best thing to do is to just assume that you are precluded from filing a lawsuit against your employer and that you need to pursue your rights under the workers' compensation system.

There are always exceptions for intentional torts and other aspects of injury-related accidents which may entitle you to pursue cases against the employer directly. However, the immunity standards are extremely tight. In our experience handling workers' compensation law, we have not seen many cases succeed in this regard.

With that being said, if you are injured as a result of a third party who is unrelated to your employer and there's negligence involved, you can have dual claims. In this type of situation, you would be entitled to pursue a liability case in tort under a civil remedy plus you will have entitlement to the worker's compensation benefits under Florida worker's compensation law.

To find out whether or not your particular circumstances allow you to file both a workers' compensation claim and a civil lawsuit, you should contact a workers compensation attorney.