When you experience a workplace injury, you may be tempted to file a personal injury lawsuit. However, state laws prevent you from directly suing your employer, so there’s a system in place for filing a compensation claim instead. While a lawyer may handle both types of cases, it’s important to understand how they differ.

How Does Fault Affect a Claim?

If you're looking to file a personal injury suit, you must be able to show that the person you're suing was at fault. You'll have to show that they had a responsibility to take measures to prevent that type of accident and they failed to do so. Whether they neglected to make a needed repair or they disobeyed a law, fault can be assigned.

However, the same isn’t true in worker’s compensation cases. There’s a myth that you have to qualify for compensation, or you have to show you didn’t cause the accident. However, you'll still be eligible to receive payment even if your employer can show that your negligence caused the accident.

How Do Damages Differ? 

The goal of a personal injury claim is to restore you to the condition you were in before the accident. To achieve this goal, your lawyer may help you seek compensation for your property damages, medical bills, lost wages, lost earning capacity, and long-term therapy. Additionally, you can seek damages for pain and suffering.

Through a worker’s compensation claim, you can seek compensation for your missed days from work, permanent disability benefits, medical treatments, and ongoing therapy or rehabilitation. While this limits how much you can seek in a claim, it also protects you. Whereas a personal injury lawsuit against an employer could leave you with nothing, worker’s compensation laws guarantee that you’ll receive some measure of compensation.

If you were injured on the job, the steps to obtaining compensation can be complex. However, Bothe & Lauridsen PC in Columbia Falls, MT, can help you pursue your claim. This firm has been serving residents of Montana since 1970, so you can trust their highly skilled legal advocates. Their legal experience will also help ensure you won’t make any errors that could cause delays in the process. To schedule a consultation, visit them online or call (406) 892-2193.