What will workers comp prevent me from?

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bigheadaches

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I got injured at work in a construction accident on a construction site. It was told to me that even though I was injured I had no right to sue and everything would be handled with workers comp. I am not so happy about this process and I don't know if it is best for me instead of having a lawyer go to court. It is up to different opinion what happened but I was hurt by something that fell which many in my crew think should not have happened. I got hit in the head. I suffer from headaches that have not gone away for a long time. I was diagnosed with a concussion and also had visible skin wounds that are taking a while to heal and stitches. I get told so many different things that I wanted to see what other people who are not related could say about workers comp.
 
99.9% of the time, WC is the exclusive remedy for employees injured on the job. The only time you can sue is if you were injured by some third party, in which case you would sue the third party not your employer, and the claim would be subrogated (meaning the WC carrier is entitled to be repaid from your award) or in very rare cases if the injury was the result of extreme negligence. Something falling and hitting you would not meet either threshold. Accidents by definition are things that should not have happened so that bar is set extremely high.
 
Agree, WC is "generally" your only remedy when you are injuried on the job.

Some exceptions "might" be: If you were injured by a defective product, you might be able to bring a products liability action against the manufacturer of the product; you were injured because of your employer's intentional conduct, you might be able to bring a personal injury lawsuit against your employer; a third party causes the injury you might be able to bring a lawsuit against that person......
 
I am a New York employer and I fully agree with Elle's & Betty's comments re. workers comp. in this state
 
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