Attorney Joe Zarzaur talks about the interplay between the Workers' Compensation Law and Personal Injury Law. It's pretty often at Zarzaur Law that we get calls about work injuries that occur at work and whether or not they have a case.

A Brief History of Workers’ Compensation Laws
In the olden days before we had a bunch of laws governing, virtually everything. If anybody injured you, you had a case against them. The common law gave you the right to sue for fair compensation for an injury. It didn't matter if it was your employer or not. As we got more industrial and as our country became more and more, business-friendly - many States (virtually every state), set laws that have passed through their own legislature that protects businesses from having to deal with lawsuits. Workers' compensation law was developed in essence to protect businesses from having to pay big lawsuit judgments. The way it works is this, the laws all say basically that if you're an employee and you're working and you get hurt during your job, you cannot sue your employer. You only can go through the workers' compensation system to get your medical bills paid or your lost wages.

No Compensation for Pain and Suffering,
In workers' comp you can't sue your employer for things like pain and suffering and mental anguish and loss of the capacity to enjoy life and convenience, a disfigurement disability. You can't sue for those things that really make us human - you only can get your bills paid and then you get a very discounted amount for your disability rating. You don't get any of the damages for pain and suffering, inconvenience the stress, the emotional toll it takes on you. You, nor your family can sue the employer for being negligent.

Third Party Negligence
There are very few exceptions to the rule for workers' comp. in Florida. The employer has to almost intentionally hurt you before you can get around the workers' comp statutes and hold the business responsible. So, the interplay is this, when you're involved in a workplace accident that results in an injury or death, the lawyer that's doing what I do is going to be looking for if there any other people you can sue? An example: You could be on a ladder doing your job at work, and you could fall into a VAT of chemicals that creates burns over 99% of your body. I've worked on this very type of case. We couldn't sue his employer for the accident because of workers' comp, but we did investigate the manufacturer of the ladder, the manufacturer of the tank, and the manufacturer of the cover over the tank. We were able to find a defect that allowed us to go after the ladder manufacturer because the ladder’s defect made the person fall and ended up being submerged in this chemical, which burned his body. The employer only had to pay workers’ comp and so the employer didn't miss a beat because the insurance policy for the workers' comp policy paid all the benefits necessary and the employer just keeps moving down the road. That is in essence, the purpose of workers' comp so that businesses don't get shut down because they're negligent – they just build it in as a cost of doing business.

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Joe Zarzaur, the founder of Zarzaur Law, P.A., a Pensacola Personal Injury law firm, has created this video blog in an effort to educate the many citizens and visitors of Pensacola, Florida about their legal rights. Joe Zarzaur knows the ins and outs of Florida law and offers quality legal help whether you have experienced an auto accident/car wreck, have been a victim of medical malpractice, or are in need of a personal injury attorney. For more information, visit: https://www.zarzaurlaw.com

100 Palafox Place
Pensacola, FL 32502
Telephone: 850-444-9299 or (855)hirejoe
Email: [email protected]