A Personal Injury Lawsuit Can Involve Injuries Caused by an Employer’s Intentional Acts
By Castillo & Associates, Legal Experts and Workplace & Personal Injury Attorneys
Workers’ compensation laws in California were passed to create a system where employees injured in accidents could get medical care and limited pay replacement. If your employer intentionally injures you, you’re not limited to a workers’ compensation claim. You can seek greater damages awards through a personal injury lawsuit. Examples: if an employee is intentionally struck by a supervisor by assault and battery causing injury, we may file a Civil Action Lawsuit under Personal Injury in addition to a Workers’ Compensation Claim for all available benefits. Another example would be a coworker or manager/ supervisor sexually assaulting a co-worker. Finally, if you are driving as a passenger in a work truck or automobile and the driver causes an accident, you may also have a civil action under personal injury.
The personal injury experts and worker’s compensation attorneys at Castillo & Associates represent clients in the California workers’ compensation system. We know how both operate and pursue claims and lawsuits where clients get the most compensation for their injuries. If you’re the victim of any intentional workplace violence or act and you are severely injured, call us at 800-497-9774.
As an example, let’s say:
- You work for a construction company
- Your supervisor constantly berates and curses at you and your fellow employees
- You’re away at a worksite, staying at a hotel paid for by your employer. During off hours at the hotel, while your supervisor is drinking, he curses at you and your co-workers, and later beats you up while you’re in bed in your hotel room
How might that play out?
What Injuries Are Covered by Workers’ Compensation?
Although intentional injuries caused by employers are relatively rare, they happen, and we’ve represented people in this situation. Injuries at work generally break down into three different causes:
- Those caused by an accident that may or may not be caused by the employer. In these cases, the employee may receive workers’ compensation benefits
- The employer commits willful misconduct that harms an employee, which may entitle the employee to additional compensation
- Certain types of intentional employer conduct are beyond what’s allowed in the workplace for which there may be a right to file a personal injury lawsuit
To qualify for benefits, an injury must happen in the course of employment, which considers the time, place, and circumstances of the injury. The injury must also “arise out of” the job, which means some condition or incident leads to the injury.
What Injuries Can Be the Subject of a Lawsuit?
For you to file a legal claim, the employer’s conduct must be beyond the workers’ compensation system. Your employer steps outside its proper role or engages in conduct unrelated to the job.
A 1994 decision by the California Supreme Court discusses the applicable state statute:
‘…the workers’ compensation exclusivity statute (§ 3600), which declares that “any injury … arising out of and in the course of … employment” is covered by the Act, is unqualified by any reference to accident or intentional tort. Second, section 4553 provides that employees shall have their workers’ compensation awards “increased [by] one-half” if the employee’s injury results from the employer’s “serious and willful misconduct.”’
To go beyond “serious and willful misconduct” and be able to file a lawsuit due to an injury caused by an intentional act, you would need to show what happened is not a risk, condition, or normal part of the job.
What May I Obtain Through a Lawsuit?
Workers’ compensation generally covers your medical treatment and rehabilitation. If you suffer a permanent disability, you should receive lump sum benefits for that. Your income will also be partially replaced.
If you have a successful lawsuit, you may be awarded compensation for:
- Past and future pain, suffering, and mental anguish
- Past and future income replacement
- Past and future medical treatment and rehabilitation
- Loss of consortium, or the injury’s impact on your relationship with others
- Punitive damages which punish the employer for its intentional acts to discourage it, and others like it, from making the same mistake in the future
Depending on the circumstances, these damage awards could be far more than what you would collect through a workers’ compensation claim.
What Might Happen in the Construction Company Scenario?
One possible tort that may get the case in court is the intentional infliction of emotional distress due to the constant yelling, cursing, and belittling by the supervisor. To prove this claim, you’d need to show:
- The supervisor’s conduct was outrageous. It must be more than profanity, obscenity, abuse, or insults. You need evidence of aggravating factors that make the situation worse than just working in a miserable environment
- The supervisor intended to cause you emotional distress, or he acted with reckless disregard for the probability that you would suffer emotional distress
- You suffered severe emotional distress
- The supervisor’s conduct was a substantial factor in causing it
Because you were beaten by your supervisor, a potential claim to bring to court is battery:
- The supervisor touched you with the intent to harm or offend you
- You didn’t consent to the touching
- You were harmed or offended by the supervisor’s conduct
- A reasonable person in your situation would’ve been offended by the touching
Battery could happen because of a punch, unwanted sexual touching, or something in between.
In both instances, to have the court hear the case, you’d have to show what happened is not a risk, condition, or normal part of your job. Depending on the evidence, the employer may turn that against you.
Under agency law, an employer is usually only responsible for the acts of an employee done in the scope of their job. They may claim it’s not responsible for a supervisor acting beyond their job duties, outside of their authority, doing something they didn’t authorize, like constantly berating other employees or beating you up. The employer may argue if what happened isn’t a risk, condition, or normal part of your job, they’re not to blame – the supervisor is.
If evidence shows management knew the supervisor was terrorizing or physically attacking employees, and these actions were encouraged or went unpunished, you could make the argument the supervisor was acting in the scope of their job and management authorized his actions, so the employer should be held liable.
If your lawsuit is dismissed, workers’ compensation claims could be filed. If the evidence shows the employer’s serious and willful misconduct led to your work-related injury, your benefits should increase by half.
If You’re Intentionally Injured by Your Employer, Contact a Personal Injury Attorney to Recover the Compensation You Deserve
If you are injured at work by your employer, you may have the opportunity to recover compensation. Castillo & Associates can handle the logistics of your claim, so you can focus on your recovery.
The personal injury lawyers and Workers’ Compensation Attorneys at Castillo & Associates help victims of intentional acts obtain the maximum monetary compensation. With more than 30 years of dedicated experience, we are prepared to champion your case. For a no-obligation consultation, contact the firm today. You don’t pay anything unless we win. We are conveniently located throughout California in San Diego, Riverside, Indio, Cathedral City and in the County of Los Angeles (Pomona). Our team of professionals, case managers and investigators can assist most injured workers throughout California. Call us at 1-800-497-9774.
Attorney Domingo Castillo handles workers’ compensation, personal injury, family law & immigration throughout Southern California from our 5 offices: Indio, Pomona, Riverside, San Diego & Cathedral City. We help clients file injury claims, obtain residency & citizenship, and we assist families through divorce, child custody and all family law matters.
