Suing an Employer Outside of Workers Compensation
Workers compensation laws are set up state by state to make sure that those injured while in the scope of their employment are taken care of. Workers are generally entitled to all medical bills paid for, 2/3's of any lost wages, and a lump sum settlement depending on the severity of any permanent injury or disability. State law does not allow employers to be sued directly.
However a recent case in New Mexico changed that state's law to allow workers to sue employers directly when the employer intentionally puts the worker in danger. Reynaldo Delgado worked for a Dodge plant in New Mexico, and was burned alive when his supervisors instructed him to drive a flammable vehicle into molten steel to retrieve a metal crucible.
The New Mexico Supreme court allowed Mr. Delgado's wife to sue her husband's employer directly so that she would be fully compensated for her husband's death. The court stated "[e]ven more disturbingly, the actual intent test [previous law] encourages an employer, motivated by economic gain, to knowingly subject a worker to injury in the name of profit-making."