Understanding Third Party Claims

The Law Offices of Morton J. Shuman, P.C. • April 22, 2021

Those injured on the job by someone other than their employer may be entitled to bring a “third-party claim” in addition to receiving worker’s compensation benefits. That is to say that an injured worker can pursue both cases simultaneously. If a third party were to be responsible for a condition that caused you to slip and fall you might have a claim against that company. For example if a delivery person were to be struck and seriously injured by a driver, on his work route, the delivery person is entitled to collect worker’s compensation benefits and pursue a personal injury claim against the driver and his insurance company.


The filing of a third-party action does not replace, or alter, the benefits under workers’ compensation. Moreover, the compensation available in third-party civil cases also differs in amount and kind from the limited statutory benefits under the workers’ compensation system, in that the injured worker can recover compensation for pain and suffering and future lost wages.


Generally speaking, state-mandated workers’ compensation insurance is designed to compensate employees for work-related injuries regardless of who was at fault for the injury. Because workers’ comp benefits act as a type of insurance, workers are precluded from suing their employers for the injuries covered. However, this compensation bargain does not prevent injured employees from filing a liability insurance claim against anyone else outside the business who may have been even partly responsible for the accident. If it should occur that an employee were to file both a workers’ compensation claim and a private liability insurance claim, the workers’ compensation system would automatically have a lien against any compensation recovered from the liable “third party.”


Workers’ comp does not allow injured employees to sue their employers, with notable exceptions: when the employer does not carry workers’ comp insurance, when the injury results from the employer’s gross negligence, or in cases of employer assault.

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