You work in a grocery store in the State of Washington and you slipped on a wet spot on the floor and broke your ankle. You really don’t like your job, you don’t get along with your bosses so you file a personal injury lawsuit against the store and wait to collect your millions.
Sound familiar?
This could be any type of business but you read about these types of things all the time. What you don’t often read about is that there are laws that prevent employees from doing just that and the employee can only be reimburse for their injury in the form of payments for their medical expenses and lost wages while they are recovering from their injury.
Washington State is required to carry workers compensation insurance for all employees at no cost but it has some built in benefits that prevent employees from making false claims.
Washington State has what is called a no fault workers compensation insurance policy. In the scene up above, they do not have to admit fault about the wet floor however they do need to take care of your injury.
How It Works
When you suffer an injury on the job, you must first report the injury to a supervisor. They are required to get you to a hospital if needed or to arrange to take you to a doctor and seek treatment. They must pay all your medical expenses and any lost wages after the first 3 days and they are not allowed to fire you for getting hurt on the job. In turn, you are not allowed to file a personal injury lawsuit against them. That is how a no fault policy works.
What To Do If They Refuse To Pay Your Claim
This does not happen as often as you might think, the laws are very strict about this. With a no fault policy, the only way they can refuse to pay your claim is if they found you intoxicated or complete disregard of there safety policy or breaking company rules.
Other than that there are limits on what they are required to pay you. If you are permanently disabled, it is best to get a workers compensation lawyer – not to sue the employer but to be sure that your claim is handled properly and that you get compensated at the most that you are allowed under the law.