Workers' Compensation was established over 100 years ago as a "grand bargain" between employers and labor. Injured workers gave up their right to sue employers in civil court for workplace injuries, making Workers' Compensation the "exclusive remedy" for such injuries. In exchange for this, injured workers received statutory benefits in a no-fault system. Over time, we have seen a number of different challenges to this grand bargain.
Is exclusive remedy exclusive?
The answer to this question is clearly no. Nearly every state has a very narrow statutory exception to exclusive remedy if the injury was caused by an "intentional act" of the employer. Some states have a lower threshold if it is determined that the employer's actions were "substantially certain" to cause injury. In both of these cases, there are rarely successful lawsuits filed by injured workers against their employer, and most suits do not survive past summary judgment.
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