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Slip and Fall Accidents / Premises Liability Claims

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Answers to Personal Injury, Wrongful Death, and Car Accident Questions

Q: I had a slip and fall workplace accident in an industrial setting. Can I sue my employer for my injury and collect damages for pain and suffering?

A: Probably not.

Under California law, an employee who is injured in the course and scope of his employment (in other words, while doing his job) cannot sue his employer. His exclusive remedy is to file a workers' compensation claim through his employer's workers' compensation insurance policy and proceed through the workers' compensation appeals board.

The reason why California employees cannot sue their employers is that the legislature wanted to provide a remedy to injured workers regardless of fault. That system, the workers' compensation system, provides the employee with compensation for his injuries and any degree of permanent disability (measured by the percentage of jobs that the employee is no longer able to work due to his disability). In exchange for this system which can provide an injured worker with immediate compensation and which adds an additional cost of doing business on employers, California employees give up the right to sue their employers and fellow employees who are acting in the scope of their employment, but whose carelessness might have caused the injury.

Exceptions exist, of course. For example, say an injured San Diego construction worker employed by a general contractor is injured while working on the job site by an employee of a subcontractor an outside vendor who came onto the job site. In that case, the careless and negligent party is not the employer or a co-employee of the employer. The wrong-doer is employed by a completely separate entity and that entity can be sued in civil court for personal injuries. In addition, the employee may also file a workers' compensation claim with his employer since he was on the job and working in his course and scope of employment. However, the employee cannot "double dip" by receiving compensation from the civil claim and workers' compensation. If the injured worker receives money damages from his civil claim, the workers' compensation insurance company probably has a right to be reimbursed for the benefits it has already paid to the worker.

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