Generally speaking, your Missouri Work Comp attorney is not allowed to sue your employer for pain and suffering related to an injury on the job. When the Missouri Workers’ Compensation statute was passed, there was a trade-off made between employers and employees.
In a Missouri Work Comp claim an employee does not have to prove fault or negligence like they would in a car accident case for instance. The trade-off is that the employee is not allowed to recover pain and suffering damages. Under what is known as the “exclusive remedy doctrine”, an employee generally only has a Missouri workers’ compensation claim against their employer for work injuries.
For many employees this is a good trade off. For instance, if the employee was hurt simply turning a wrench working on a diesel engine, under a personal injury negligence theory, it may be very hard for the employee to be compensated because it would be hard to show that the employer was negligent. Under Missouri Workers compensation, this should be a covered injury and the employee should receive the appropriate benefits under the Missouri work comp law.
For other employees where there is obvious negligence on the part of the employer it may not be the best trade off. Unfortunately the injured employee does not get to choose to bring a Missouri personal injury case instead of a Missouri workers compensation claim. The Missouri work comp claim is the exclusive remedy for the employee
When Should You Hire a Missouri Work Comp Attorney?
If you had a serious work related injury involving a surgery, broken bone, torn tendon or ligament, then you should hire a Missouri work comp lawyer early in the process. If you have sustained serious injuries requiring surgery or other significant medical treatment, you’ll want to hire a lawyer sooner rather than later before you make a potential mistake in your case that could cost you thousand of dollars.
There is no charge to see if we can help. In cases involving serious injuries you should have a qualified Springfield Missouri workers compensation attorney on your side to help you throughout the process.