Do you reside in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania? Have you recently gotten injured at work? Perhaps you hurt your back by carrying a heavy box. Or maybe you had a slip and fall injury. Whatever the case, you’ve decided to go ahead and make a claim.
In some instances, you can make two claims (personal injury and workers comp). When that situation arises, it may be time to contact personal Injury & Workers’ Comp Attorneys Philadelphia. This article is here to help you decide which course of action may be right for you.
Workers’ Compensation Claim
Being able to prove the fault is the main difference between workers’ compensation and personal injury. When you are injured at your workplace or away from your work while carrying out tasks related to work, and you decide to file a workers compensation claim, you don’t have to prove that any party caused the injury. Even if the incident was partly your fault, you are still eligible to get workers comp.
Workers comp is meant to protect workers who become injured in any way because even if the injury was their fault, the fact is that they wouldn’t have been injured if they were not on the clock working for their company. In case you choose to go with workers’ compensation, you won’t receive anything outside of financial costs. Still, you may receive payment for damages such as medical expenses, weekly compensation for wages, permanent impairment benefits, and vocational rehabilitation.
Personal Injury Claim
The major difference between a workers’ compensation claim and a personal injury claim is that personal injury claims are not limited to any specific demographic of people (for example, workers or employees). Anyone who is injured due to another person’s negligence is qualified to file a personal injury lawsuit, including workers. For an injured worker to claim damages this way, though, they must be able to prove that another party was at fault and caused their injuries.
Contrary to workers compensation damages, personal injury damages are compensatory for pain and suffering and can include medical expenses, lost wages, and loss of future earning capacity.
Circumstances when a personal injury lawsuit applies to work injury
- The injury is caused by a defective product, which would allow for a claim against the product manufacturer.
- The individual’s employer’s behavior was intentional or could cause severe harm or even death.
- The injury involves a toxic or illegal substance.
- The employer did not carry workers compensation insurance.
- The damage was caused by the error of a third party that doesn’t work for the company.
As you can see, there are a couple of differences between personal injury claims and workers comp claims. Try to do your research into which may be the proper claim to file, whether a personal injury attorney, a workers comp attorney or both applies to you.
Well, that’s about it. Hopefully, this article has guided you through the difference between personal injury and workers comp claims and which situations each is applicable. If you want to make claims for both, consider hiring personal injury & workers’ comp attorneys in Philadelphia.