Can I sue my employer?

I have to ask you if you have filed a Workman's Compensation claim within your state where you live for this injury. This is the most important thing for you to do, even more important than suing your employer. The Workman's Compensation benefits are paid by both you and your employer, and this is insurance for a work related injury. Were you not to have first pursued a Workman's Compensation claim and went instead to an attorney to sue your employer, with the employer's insurance company paying the claim rather than Workman's Compensation paying the claim, the employer's insurance company can and probably will ask the court for a continuance on your claim until it is known how much money Workman's Compensation will be paying you, either in monthly compensation or in a lump sum payment, usually paid in bi-weekly periods. Were the amount of Workman's Compensation money you receive or will receive to not be enough, then you may sue your employer and the money will either come from the employer's insurance company or directly from the employer as ordered by the court. Workman's Compensation and your employer's insurance company will do all they can to drag this on in an attempt to wear you out so you will go away. I have a friend who broke his neck on the job nine years ago and is 100 percent disabled and can't ever work again. He spent the first eight years in pain even after three operations, and it wasn't until the fourth operation in the ninth year he finally got the relieve from pain. He has been receiving Workman's Compensation in monthly payments based on a doctor who was working in collusion with Workman's Compensation and only gave him a fifty-seven percent disability when he can't even turn his head from side to side or up or down because there are pins in his spine that prevent him from doing so. He is trying to get a final settlement with Workman's Compensation and get the percentage of his disability changed from fifty-seven percent to 100 percent disability because he can't do anything that may bring strain to his neck or he could get back the pain he endured for eight long years. My advice to you is make sure you have an attorney with a good track record and one who knows how to work with Workman's Compensation cases and won't pussyfoot around with you and will tell you the truth. The truth is it takes lot of time to settle work related injuries and for anyone doing so it is best get on with ones life while the process of pursuing a claim takes on a life on its own and will go through the process whenever it does and nobody has control over when it does. Yes, your claim could go on for ten or more years, so get on with living your life the best you can in the mean time and don't rely on promises your attorney makes or anything Workman Compensation states until you have received any money. In other words, you are being told by your employer, the employer's insurance company, and will be in the future told by Workman's Compensation that you will have to wait in line to get any money and they will all take as long as they possibly can to withhold any payments to you because they want the money themselves and won't release it unless ordered to by the court. We have lost worker's rights in the U.S.A. and it is only going to get worse as businesses and the government force unions out of existence and refuse to engage in collective bargaining when it comes to workers rights, safety on the job, benefits and pay. The union movement that provided the working conditions we have now will be gone and who is the loser? You are and so are the rest of the wage earners of America. It is called greed and the corporations and government are pursuing greed and have taken the stance that unions will be broken.