Pennsylvania Work Accidents – Can You Recover Pain & Suffering Damages?

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Can You Receive Pain & Suffering Damages for Your Work Accident Case?

Workers in this state are injured every day. In fact, in 2012, Pennsylvania’s work accident injury rate was 4.1 per every 100 workers, much higher than the national average of 3.4. Click here to learn about work accident rates for Pennsylvania, by industry, including the transportation/warehousing, manufacturing and construction industries.

Many workers who are injured in work related accidents in Pennsylvania want to know whether they will be able to recover for their pain and suffering. The answer depends on the following factors:

  • the type of accident;
  • where the accident occurred;
  • the cause of the accident;
  • the entities involved in causing the accident;
  • the relationship between those entities.

Related: Pennsylvania Work Accident Law – What is Pain & Suffering?

Workers’ Compensation in PA

In general, injured workers who sustain work related accidents will be eligible to make claims to obtain workers’ compensation benefits, including medical and wage loss benefits. Pain and suffering, however, is not payable via workers’ compensation, as a matter of public policy.

In Pennsylvania, workers’ compensation benefits are designed to provide bare minimum compensation to employees, i.e., 100% of medical bills and only a percentage of lost wages, usually no more than 66%. This scheme serves as an incentive to get injured workers back to work as soon as possible. Paying pain and suffering damages does not further that goal because by paying pain and suffering damages, you give workers an extra incentive to make workers’ compensation claims and stay out on comp for as long as possible.

Negligence Claims in PA Work Accident Cases

Under normal negligence law principles in Pennsylvania, an injured worker who has a valid negligence claim may be able to make a claim for pain and suffering damages, in addition to medical bills and lost wages. A negligence claim is entirely different from a workers’ compensation claim. Both types of claims may be made after a work accident occurs.

Compensation for Pain and Suffering Damages

In work accident negligence lawsuits, a pain and suffering damage award is meant to compensate the injured worker for the physical pain and mental/emotional anguish which result from an accident. The amount of compensation awarded for a pain and suffering damage claim will vary because injuries affect each person differently. For instance, the pain and suffering of a factory worker who breaks an arm in a machine accident will be entirely different from the pain and suffering of a construction worker whose arm is amputated as a result of a major forklift accident.

More: Compensation for Accidents at Work, Injured at Work in Pennsylvania?

About Our PA & NJ Work Accident Lawyers

Our lawyers have been representing injured workers throughout the Northeast area for over 20 years. For a free case review, please call the firm at Click To Call.

Work Accident Case Results:

  • $101 million – The collapse of a parking garage at the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City that injured over 30 construction workers on the job and killed 4 men working on the project (largest construction accident settlement in U.S. history).
  • $13 million – The collapse of the Philadelphia Kimmel Center during its construction

Disclaimer: The lawyers at Laffey, Bucci & Kent provide legal advice to individuals after accepting their cases. No attorney-client relationship is created by this website. Nothing on this site is intended to provide legal advice. Because every case is unique, discussion of prior outcomes and settlements in past cases is no guarantee of a similar outcome in current or future cases.