Can Workers Sue for Injuries After Breaking Safety Rules in Massachusetts?

Workers and employers alike have all sorts of safety rules that need to be followed.  Many of them are there to help keep you safe, but the duty to make sure that workers comply with safety rules often rests with employers and supervisors rather than individual workers.  This might affect your right to sue after an injury, depending on the specifics.  However, Workers’ Compensation might be available either way.

When you get hurt because you failed to follow a safety rule, it might be considered “contributory negligence” or “comparative negligence” in an injury lawsuit, meaning that you lose out on a percentage of damages equal to your share of the fault.  However, there is often a factual question as to whether the safety rule controlled what you had to do or what your employer had to make sure you did.  In any case, accidents that happen within the scope of your work can usually lead to Workers’ Compensation claims regardless of who caused the accident or broke safety rules, preserving your right to compensation, even if you cannot sue.

Call our Boston work injury lawyers at the Law Office of John J. Sheehan by dialing (617) 925-6407 today.

Who is at Fault for a Safety Violation at Work in Massachusetts?

In many cases, safety rules are written to control what the employer does rather than what the worker does.  Obviously, employees should not fly in the face of rules that are there to keep them safe, but the duty to make sure that anyone on a work site is following the rules rests on the employer, not the employee.

Take the example of steel-toed boots on a construction site, for example.  Many employers require their workers to buy their own boots; they don’t provide them for their workers.  This means that if you show up to work without steel-toed boots, you are breaking the safety rule – but it is up to your employer or supervisor to tell you you cannot work or that you have to go buy safer boots.  They cannot just let you work anyway with non-compliant safety gear.

At the same time, workers do not legally get off the hook if they knowingly violated safety rules. It would be difficult to convince a jury that you did not contribute to your own injuries by violating a safety rule, especially if the rule was obviously meant to keep you safe.  For example, something like failing to wear goggles while welding or ignoring a sign requiring safety gear beyond that point would likely be seen as you contributing to your own injury.

How Workplace Safety Mistakes Affect Victim’s Lawsuits – Comparative Negligence

Massachusetts is a state with a “modified comparative negligence rule.”  This means that, under Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 231, § 85, if a victim is found to share a higher percentage of fault for the accident than the defendant, the victim cannot recover damages.  Anything less than that simply reduces their total damages by their percentage of fault.

For example, imagine a construction contractor was suing the site owner for a collapsing scaffolding, but they failed to wear a hard hat, thus increasing the risk of a head injury.  If they received $100,000 in damages, but the court said they were 20% at fault, they would only receive $80,000 from the defendant, losing out on 20% ($20,000).

Other states use a more strict rule called a “contributory negligence” system, but the term “contributory negligence” is sometimes used interchangeably to describe situations where you were partially at fault.  In a true contributory negligence system, even being 1% at fault for your own accident would block you from suing, but our rule in Massachusetts is much friendlier to victims.  You can even sue for 50% of the damages if you were 50/50 at fault under our rule.

Suing for Workplace Accidents Involving Safety Violations in Massachusetts

If you violated a safety rule, it can hurt your ability to sue, but you might have no ability to sue for your work injury to begin with.

Under Massachusetts law, employees usually cannot sue their own employer for injuries at work.  You can sue outside parties, such as the manufacturer of a defective piece of safety equipment, the manufacturer of a machine that has a defective emergency shutoff, or even a driver or vendor who hit you with a vehicle while you were working.  However, you typically cannot sue your employer.

This does create another exception, given that independent contractors are technically self-employed, and their “boss” would be a “client,” not an “employer.”  If your boss is not your employer and is not required to pay for Workers’ Compensation insurance for you under the law, then you might still be able to sue them.  However, many employers make mistakes or intentionally misclassify workers so they can avoid paying for benefits like Workers’ Compensation, leaving employees in the dust when injuries happen.  Our attorneys can figure out your proper status and help you file a lawsuit if it is appropriate in your situation.

The other big issue with suing after a safety violation is that you might share too much fault.  If you were found more at fault than the defendant, you cannot file a lawsuit anyway.  If your safety violation was the only cause and there is no one else to blame for your accident, you do not have a lawsuit – but you might still be eligible for Workers’ Compensation.

Workers’ Compensation for Injuries Involving Safety Violations in Massachusetts

Workers’ Compensation pays for injuries at work regardless of how they happened, as long as they were accidental.  Whether the accident could be pinned on the employer, whether it was a freak accident, or whether the employee’s safety violation was the one and only cause of the accident, Workers’ Compensation should still cover your accident case.

When you get Workers’ Compensation, you can often receive 60 to 66 2/3% of your lost wages, plus coverage for medical expenses and additional payments for specific injuries involving lost function or significant scarring.  Overall, these damages leave out the compensation you might receive in a lawsuit – such as the remainder of your lost wages and damages for pain and suffering.  But if you are unable to sue or would lose out on significant damages from comparative negligence, Workers’ Compensation still likely pays more.

The main problem that might keep you from getting benefits is if your violation is deemed “serious and wilful misconduct,” which bars you from getting benefits under Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 152, § 27, but this is a question the judge needs to decide based on facts and evidence.

Call Our Work Injury Lawyers in Massachusetts Today

For a free case review, call the Massachusetts workplace injury lawyers at the Law Office of John J. Sheehan at (617) 925-6407.