If you get in an accident during the official capacity of your job, you can either seek coverage through your own auto policy or your companies auto policy. If you get in an accident on the job, you may also have a workers’ compensation claim as well. These claims can be brought together or separately. Either way, you may seek compensation under both workers’ comp or third-party claims.
To expand on this idea, let’s say, for example, that you are in an accident in which you sustained injuries while working within the capacity of your job. If the accident involves a third party who is outside of the work environment, then there is a separate claim. In this instance, you may have a claim for workers’ compensation against your employer and a separate third-party claim against the responsible party.
Generally, these claims are brought at the same time. If the workers’ compensation pays money out for injuries sustained and then you subsequently recover money from the third party for the same accident, workers’ compensation is entitled to recover two-thirds of the money paid out.
Depending on the type of injury and the likelihood of success that the injured party will have in recovering damages for injuries, it may not always be advantageous to bring a third-party claim and a workers’ compensation claim at the same time.
In some scenarios, the injured party may be able to recover more money from the third-party even after the two-thirds of funds are paid back to workers’ compensation fund. However, in circumstances where the third-party claim is less than the workers’ compensation claim, the third-party claim may not always be able to reimburse workers’ compensation entirely.
Regardless, in more serious injury cases, third-party claims are generally higher than workers’ compensation claims. Thus, in those situations, the injured party may recover substantially higher damages than a workers’ compensation claim.
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