Can I Sue My Maryland Employer For A Fall?
Workers’ Compensation and Employer Immunity: What You Need to Know
Eric T. Kirk, Baltimore’s trusted personal injury attorney, explains the concept of workers’ compensation immunity in Maryland. Historically, employees injured at work had to prove employer fault through a lawsuit. Over time, states transitioned to a no-fault workers’ compensation system. This approach ensures employees injured during the scope of employment receive benefits without proving fault. However, the trade-off is significant—employees can no longer sue their employers for negligence or seek additional legal remedies.
History of Maryland’s Workers’ Compensation System
Maryland’s workers’ compensation system has a long and transformative history rooted in the broader national shift toward protecting injured workers. Before the 20th century, injured employees were required to sue their employers to recover damages for workplace injuries. Under these general negligence principles, employees had to prove that their employer was at fault, a challenging and often insurmountable task. Employers could rely on defenses such as contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and co-worker negligence to avoid liability, leaving many injured workers without recourse.
In response to the increasing dangers of industrialization and the growing demand for workers’ protections, Maryland enacted its workers’ compensation law in he early part of the last century. As the economic engine that drove the state, not surprisingly, many of not most of these early case came straight out of Baltimore. The system was part of a nationwide movement inspired by, in part some have felt, European models, particularly Germany’s pioneering no-fault compensation system. Maryland’s law aimed at a balance between employees’ needs for prompt medical treatment and wage replacement, and employers’ desire to avoid costly lawsuits. How close to that target the law has come is the subject of sincere debate
The workers’ compensation system introduced a no-fault framework, meaning injured employees could receive benefits regardless of who was at fault for the accident. In exchange, employers were granted immunity from lawsuits based on negligence. This trade-off, called by at least one noted commentator the “Grand Bargain,” provided a streamlined process for handling workplace injuries.
Over the decades, Maryland’s workers’ compensation laws have evolved, with amendments addressing medical expenses, disability benefits, and wage-loss compensation. Today, the Maryland Workers’ Compensation Commission oversees the system, ensuring fair and efficient resolution of claims.
While the system generally benefits workers and employers alike, disputes still arise regarding benefit calculations, coverage limits, and liability for third-party claims. Experienced Baltimore work-injury lawyers like Eric T. Kirk can be pivotal in navigating these complexities and securing just outcomes for Baltimore’s injured workers.
As Attorney Eric T. Kirk will tell you.
An Baltimore employer is generally immune from a lawsuit for personal injury.
Transcript:
Maryland employers generally enjoy what is called workers’ compensation immunity. Years ago, at the turn of the previous century, if an employee was injured at work, they had to sue their employer and had to prove fault under general negligence or general legal principles. States have moved away from that and adopted a no-fault system of workers’ compensation benefits. Here, if an employee is injured accidentally during the scope and course of their employment, they’re entitled to statutory workers’ compensation benefits on a no-fault basis. The trade-off for that is that they no longer have a right and cannot sue their employer for negligence or other legal remedies
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A Baltimore car accident and personal injury litigator who has taken hundreds of cases to trial in Maryland, New York and Florida, recovering millions over a 30-year mission to obtain denied compensation for his clients.
