Under California labor laws, if you are injured during the course and scope of your employment, i.e. at work, your only option is to seek and receive workers’ compensation benefits.
However, there are some exceptions to this rule, which we are covering below:
First Exception: Your Employer Does Not Carry Worker’s Compensation Insurance
If your employer doesn’t have worker’s compensation insurance, then naturally, you cannot seek and receive worker’s compensation benefits. As such, you are allowed to seek civil action, i.e. a personal injury case, against your employer for your injuries.
In the civil action, you can seek compensation for your medical expenses, lost income, and pain, suffering, and inconvenience.
Second Exception: Injury Was Caused By a Third Party
If you are injured at work, but the party at fault is not your employer or a co-employee, then you are allowed to seek civil action, i.e. a personal injury claim, against the at-fault party and still seek worker’s compensation benefits if you wish.
Here are some examples of how such a case works:
Example 1:
You work as a delivery person for a company such as Amazon, FedEx, or UPS. During one of your deliveries in Santa Clarita Valley, a careless driver runs a red light and slams into your vehicle. What are your options?
You have three options:
(a) You can choose to seek worker’s compensation, solely.
The positives: your medical bills will be paid for by the insurance company.
The negatives: you will be very limited as to the type of care you need, and you will not be compensated for your pain and suffering.
(b) You can choose to seek a civil action, aka personal injury action, against the careless driver who caused the car accident, solely.
The positives: you are not limited in the type of care you need, and you can be compensated for pain and suffering.
The negatives: your treatment would be on a lien, which means that there is no guarantee of payments to your healthcare providers.
(c) You can choose to seek worker’s compensation, and in addition to that, you can choose to seek a civil action, aka personal injury action, against the careless driver.
The positives: your medical bills will be paid by the insurance company, you may not be limited on the type of care you need because you can treat outside of what the insurance company offers, and you can be compensated for pain and suffering.
The negatives: the insurance company (worker’s compensation) will be the first one in line to be paid in any action against the at-fault party (careless driver).
Example 2:
A construction worker is injured at a construction site in San Fernando Valley when he falls through an open hole or falls off unsafe scaffolding. What are his options?
He has three options:
(a) He can choose to seek and receive worker’s compensation, solely.
The positives: his medical bills will be paid for by the insurance company.
The negatives: he will be very limited as to the type of care he needs, he cannot be compensated for his pain and suffering, he will not receive full compensation for his lost income (the time he is out for recovery), and he will not be fully compensated for his future loss of income or earnings capacity.
(b) He can choose to seek a civil action, aka personal injury action for the Construction Site Accident, against the General Contractor in charge of the construction project and/or the subcontractor at fault for creating and leaving the open hole or the unsafe scaffolding.
Under this scenario, he will not seek worker’s compensation benefits.
The positives: he is not limited in the type of care he needs, he can be compensated for pain and suffering, he can seek full compensation for his lost income (the time he is out for recovery), and he can seek full compensation for his future loss of income and earnings capacity.
The negatives: his treatments would be on a lien, which means that there is no guarantee of payment to his healthcare providers.
(c) He can choose to seek and receive worker’s compensation, and in addition to that, you can choose to seek a civil action, aka personal injury action, against the General Contractor and/or the at-fault subcontractor.
The positives: his medical bills will be paid by the insurance company, he may not be limited on the type of care he needs because he can be treated outside of what the insurance company offers, he can be compensated for pain and suffering, he can seek full compensation for his lost income (the time he is out for recovery), and he can seek full compensation for his future loss of income and earnings capacity.
The negatives: the insurance company (worker’s compensation) will be the first one in line to be paid in any action against the General Contractor.
Example 3:
An employee at the office slips and falls in the building’s bathroom in Los Angeles because it was recently cleaned and no warning signs were posted. What are her options?
(a) She can choose worker’s compensation, solely.
The positives: her medical bills will be paid for by the insurance company.
The negatives: she will be very limited as to the type of care she needs, she cannot be compensated for your pain and suffering, and she will not be fully compensated for her lost income (the time she is out for recovery).
(b) She can choose to seek a civil action, aka personal injury action, against the janitorial company that cleaned the bathroom and/or the management company in charge of the building. Under this scenario, she will not seek worker’s compensation benefits.
The positives: she is not limited in the type of care she needs, she can be compensated for pain and suffering, and she can seek full compensation for her lost income (the time she is out for recovery).
The negatives: her treatments would be on a lien, which means that there is no guarantee of payment to her healthcare providers.
(c) She can choose worker’s compensation, and seek a civil action, aka personal injury action, against the janitorial company and/or the management company.
The positives: her medical bills will be paid by the insurance company, she may not be limited on the type of care she needs because she can be treated outside of what the insurance company offers, she can be compensated for pain and suffering, and she can seek full compensation for her lost income (the time she is out for recovery).
The negatives: the insurance company (worker’s compensation) will be the first one in line to be paid in any action against the janitorial company and/or the management company.
The information provided here is specific to California law, and laws in other states may differ.
Your Best Option
Because each case represents its own set of unique facts, your best option is to contact a personal injury attorney to discuss your particular case.
Here, at The Mason Law Firm, we only handle personal injury cases, which means that we can handle the civil portion of the case. Mason Rashtian, in charge of the firm, has in fact, been litigating cases for over 27 years and is very knowledgeable about every aspect of personal injury and civil cases.
We also work on a contingency basis, which means there are never any fees or costs to you. We only get paid when there is a recovery on the case. So, if you have any questions about an injury case, whether it is caused during work or not, please feel free to contact us at (661) 476-5678, or simply fill out our contact information sheet by clicking here.