Virginia Workers Compensation Lawyers Serve Victims and Families of Wrongful Death Accidents
If your loved one has been killed in a workplace accident, you and your family may be entitled to not only worker’s compensation benefits but also damages recovered in a personal injury lawsuit when a third party is involved. Virginia personal injury lawyers Dulaney, Lauer & Thomas represent victims and their families in fatal workplace accident cases.
Fatal Workers’ Compensation Accidents
Whether the workplace is an office or an outside job site, employers are required by law to ensure a safe workplace. Workplace accidents can occur anywhere, anytime. If your loved one is killed as a result of unsafe conditions at work, their dependants may be entitled to death benefits under Virginia’s workers’ compensation law.
The Virginia Department of Labor and Virginia Occupational Health and Safety programs together work to set and enforce standards for workplace safety that will minimize the risk of accidents and protect employees from being harmed or killed on the job. Most employers are required to carry workers’ compensation insurance that will provide financial compensation to people dependent on the employee in the event of a fatal workplace accident, no matter who was at fault.
Emotions can be overwhelming after losing your loved one in a workplace accident. If you intend to make a workers’ compensation claim, it’s important to work with an experienced workers’ compensation accident attorney who understands how Virginia law works in these cases and can gather all the evidence needed for your claim.
The payments are usually a percentage of the employee’s weekly wages depending on whether the dependent(s) were wholly or only partially dependent on the family member who was killed and can last for up to 500 weeks. The company’s workers’ compensation insurance pays these costs.
Fatal Accidents and Third-Party Lawsuits
While workers’ compensation provides partial compensation, in some cases, a third party may be at fault for the accident that killed the worker. This could be a person such as a contractor or a bystander, or the fault could lie with conditions or equipment at the workplace that did not belong to the employer. On a construction job site, for example, equipment and vehicles may be rented from third-party companies and brought to the job site. In an office, if the building is under construction and those circumstances create a situation where someone gets fatally injured while at or near the workplace, that may be the fault of a third party.
These third parties can be held accountable legally for the loss of the employee’s life through the filing of a separate personal injury lawsuit, including recovery of costs not covered by workers’ compensation, such as punitive damages or costs to compensate for pain and suffering.
If your loved one was killed as a result of third-party negligence on the job, you need an accident and injury lawyer who can gather evidence to prove the third party was at fault for the death of your loved one.
Virginia Injury and Accident Firm
Losing a loved one in a workplace accident can be devastating for families. Nothing can replace the loss of life, but families left behind after these tragic accidents can recover damages under Virginia law to compensate for their loss.
Families need time to process the loss of a loved one but don’t delay if you think you may be eligible to file a third-party personal injury lawsuit, as the statute of limitations to file in Virginia is two years.
An experienced Virginia injury lawyer can handle the workers’ compensation claim with the employer while also determining whether or not a third party may be partially or fully to blame for the accident. Your lawyer can then file a lawsuit to seek additional compensation from the third party or parties. If your family member was killed at work, contact an experienced workplace accident lawyer who understands your pain and suffering and will aggressively fight for what you and your family deserve.