Is my employer liablle for more than medical bills if I was injured at work?
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Is my employer liablle for more than medical bills if I was injured at work?
I was injured at work due to a store managers actions, I was pulled off a loading dock trying to help him up and separated my shoulder. I am enrolled in nursing classes and due to the injury was unable to attend one of my classes. I was unable to perform CPR and do any kind of movement of the patient, also can not take vitals with one arm. I was given the choice withdraw or fail, either would cost me. When I withdrew from the one class it put me below full time status which now the school has to return some of the grant money, $660 to be exact. I am responsible for paying that, I have made several attempts to contact the employer, including trying to contact the corporate office. Is the company liable for the additional expense I incurred due to the injury?
Asked on August 31, 2017 under Employment Labor Law, Ohio
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
1) If you receive worker's compensation, they are not liable: in taking worker's compensation, you give up your right to sue the employer over the injury. (That is the trade-off built into worker's comp: you get the money faster without having to sue, but in exchange give up the right to sue.)
2) If you did not get worker's compensation, the employer *may* be liable for the other reasonably foreseeable costs or consequences of your injury, like the cost of a class you could not complete. However, to hold them liable, you'd have to sue them (assuming they will not voluntarily pay you) and prove in court that the manager was negligent, or unreasonably careless, in some way in causing your injury; you have to prove the manager's fault or wrongdoing, at least in regards to being unreasonably careless. If the manager was not careless and not at fault, the employer is not liable: the fact that you were injured at work does not, by itself, make the liable for your injury.
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