Workplace safety is a serious issue for all companies. For some jobs there are extreme risks involved everyday. This can be scary for employers because of potential liability.
Worker’s Compensation Laws have been in effect for nearly a century, but few employers fully understand them. In Michigan, Worker’s Compensation Laws have five major features: (1) Worker’s Compensation is mandatory for all employees; (2) Worker’s Compensation is a no-fault system; (3) Worker’s Compensation benefits are limited to workers injured on the job or because of the job; (4) Benefits available from the employer are limited to the statutory amounts; and (5) In general, Worker’s compensation is the only remedy available to an injured worker for workplace injury. This is the tradeoff for no-fault compensation to injured employees.
It is important to note that an employer cannot be sued for money damages in addition to Worker’s compensation benefits, except in situations where the employer does not have the required insurance or where the employer intentionally injures or kills the employee.
If an employer is uninsured, the injured employee is entitled to recover cash benefits in addition to any worker’s compensation benefits that the court provides.
Michigan Courts have stated that in order for injury to be deemed “intentional”, the employer must have either made a conscious decision and taken action to injure the employee based on that decision, or the employer must have had no doubts the employee would be injured by a certain activity and have done nothing to stop it. This is more than negligence or even recklessness. This high standard is seldom overcome to allow a lawsuit against an employer for tort damages.
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