Accidents can occur anywhere at any time, and there are many different types of compensation lawsuits that you could file after an accident; two of these are personal injury claims and workers’ compensation claims. Many believe personal injury and workers’ compensation claims are the same.

However, they are not the same, but they have some similarities and critical differences. Workers’ compensation is a form of benefit for workers that sustain an injury or illness on the job or perform work-related duties. You’re eligible for workers’ compensation if your injury happened at work or while performing work-related duties.

While a personal injury claim refers to when an individual takes a legal step against another individual who caused them an injury during an accident, the idea behind a personal injury claim is to compensate a victim for the expenses they would not have to face if an accident had not occurred.

Similarities Between Personal Injury And Workers’ Compensation

Personal injury and workers’ compensation are similar in that both are intended to benefit an injured person, so they are in a comparable financial condition as if the injury hadn’t happened. This implies that victims do not have to pay for injury-related expenses alone.

The basis for personal injury law is relatively straightforward: if you’re injured because of someone’s negligence, then you’re entitled to recover for your financial losses related to the injury. Similarly, employers are required to have specific insurance that provides benefits if workers are injured at work.

Differences Between Personal Injury And Workers’ Compensation

The main differences between a workers’ compensation claim and a personal injury lawsuit are;

1. Fault Requirements 

A personal injury claim is based on fault, while a workers’ compensation case is not. Once an employee is injured in the workplace, they are automatically entitled to specified Workers’ Compensation benefits. There is no need to apply or establish a fault for the injury; the victim does not need to prove or demonstrate that the employer, work conditions, equipment, or another employee caused the injury, even if it is so.

On the other hand, for personal injury, for the victim to recover damages, they must prove that someone’s negligence caused the injury. A fault has to be established in this case.

2. Compensation is Available. 

Here, for personal injury claims, the victim is entitled to recover all damages suffered due to the injury. Examples include lost earnings, medical expenses, lost earning capacity, future medical expenses, pain, suffering, etc.

But for workers’ compensation, workers receive benefits such as vocational rehabilitation, lost wages for time off from work during recovery, medical bills, permanent impairment, and so on in due time while away from work. They do not get benefits for pain and suffering.

Other differences between personal injury and workers’ compensation are as follows:

For workers’ compensation

• You cannot sue an employer
• Workers comp claims are only between employee and employer

Personal Injury Claim

• Can be found between Individuals not necessarily related to work
• There is a right to sue