When an employee is injured at work, they can choose to file for personal injury or workers compensation. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to determine the difference between personal injury vs workers compensation cases, let alone which one is right for the situation at hand.
When filing either a personal injury claim or a workers compensation case, it’s crucial to understand the differences in order to ensure you’re filing the correct claim.
To help clarify the differences between personal injury vs. workers comp, this article provides a brief overview and key differences between the two.
Worker’s Compensation
Workers compensation is an insurance policy managed by the workers compensation boards of individual states. Additionally, there is federal workers compensation insurance that is managed by the federal government.
The important thing to remember about opening a workers compensation case is that no proof of fault needs to be made in order to receive benefits.
All that needs to be proven is that the injury happened at work and was related to the employee’s job duties.
Fault rarely comes into play during a workers compensation case. Typically, it is only brought up when an employee’s injury is due to an intentional act of an employer or coworker, or when an employee got injured while violating safety regulations.
Personal Injury
Personal injury cases are not limited to a specific class of people. Determining fault plays a key role in winning a personal injury case. Since anyone who was injured due to the negligence of someone else can file a personal injury claim, the injured party must prove that someone else was at fault.
To get compensation for personal injury, the person must show that the harm was caused by someone else’s carelessness.
The individual making the claim needs to provide evidence that the injury was a result of another person’s negligence. Compensation for personal injury can only be obtained if it can be proven that someone else’s carelessness led to the harm.
Generally, parties can solve personal injury claims outside of the courtroom. Most personal injury cases are handled by lawyers without going to trial, with only about 2% actually going to court. These claims are compensatory and typically include property damage, medical expenses, and lost wages.
Areas of Overlap
Workers comp cases and personal injury cases do have a lot in common. These areas of overlap may include:
- Injuries involving a defective product
- Injuries involving a toxic substance
- Injuries intentionally caused by a coworker or employer
- Injuries occurring due to the negligence of the third party
Since there is a lot of overlap between the two types of claims, it’s important to consult an attorney.
A personal injury lawyer or a workers compensation attorney will be able to help you decide which type of claim would be best for your situation.
Injuries can severely impact your financial situation and your ability to continue working, so it would be in your best interest to consult an experienced attorney.
