Frank Eidson, Orlando Workers Compensation Attorney, Is Frequently Asked: “Can I Sue My Employer”?

This is a question that everybody asks, “Can I sue my employer?” I’m going to give you a generic “no-way.”

And the reason is there was a trade-off a long time ago on whether people could sue their employers and they created workers’ comp which is just kind of a catchall.

As long as you’re on the job, whether you slipped and fell and it’s your fault, whether somebody dropped a bucket on you, you’re going to get your wages and you’re going to get your medical bills.

But you won’t get pain and suffering, you won’t get loss of enjoyment in life. In an auto accident, you get those things, not in comp.

Now, there is an exception called “Gross Negligence” and that has been changed by the legislature recently. That means, you could sue your employer if they were grossly negligent, and that’s the reason the law is written where basically, your boss man needs to be almost criminally or culpably liable and that it was almost certain that you were going to get hurt.

He knew those stairs had termites in and he had a warning to go fix those stairs, and he still made you go up them. It’s going to have to be really exaggerated.

Now, left out are the protected classes of the federal law, if you’ve been discriminated for race, religion, creed, sexually harassed, yes, you can sue your employer.

But I’m talking about on-the-job injuries and, basically, you can’t.