Nevada workers’ compensation provides medical coverage and wage replacement benefits for employees injured on the job, but it limits those benefits and — through the exclusivity provision — generally bars injured workers from suing their employers in tort for additional compensation. What many Las Vegas workers don’t know is that when a third party — someone other than their employer — contributed to the workplace accident, the injured worker can pursue a civil tort claim against that third party for the full range of personal injury damages that workers’ compensation does not cover: pain and suffering, full lost income (not just the two-thirds of average monthly wage that workers’ comp pays), and loss of enjoyment of life. Third-party workplace injury claims in Las Vegas arise frequently in the construction, hospitality, and distribution industries where workers from one employer routinely work alongside employees of other companies, on premises owned by yet another entity, using equipment supplied by still another party. Marathon Law Group represents Las Vegas workplace injury victims in third-party civil claims throughout Clark County and Nevada, maximizing recovery by pursuing all parties beyond the workers’ compensation system.
Nevada Third-Party Workplace Injury Claims — Who Can Be Sued Beyond the Employer
Nevada’s workers’ compensation exclusivity rule (NRS 616A.020) shields the injured worker’s direct employer from civil tort claims — injured employees receive workers’ comp benefits from their employer in exchange for giving up the right to sue the employer in tort. However, this exclusivity shield applies only to the direct employer; third parties who contributed to the injury remain subject to civil tort claims. Common Nevada third-party workplace injury defendants include: property owners where work is being performed (premises liability claims for unsafe site conditions the property owner controlled); general contractors (for failing to maintain overall site safety when subcontracted workers are injured on the general contractor’s site — Nevada’s multi-employer citation policy under Nevada OSHA recognizes GC safety responsibility); equipment manufacturers (product liability claims when a defective machine, tool, or piece of safety equipment caused or contributed to the injury); staffing agencies (when a staffing company placed a worker and the staffing company’s negligence in training, supervision, or screening contributed to the injury); and other contractors or subcontractors on a shared work site whose employees created hazards that injured the plaintiff worker. Nevada construction site injuries — falls from height, being struck by equipment, trench cave-ins, scaffolding failures — commonly involve multiple employers and multiple potential third-party defendants. The workers’ compensation carrier that has paid benefits to the injured worker has a subrogation lien against any third-party recovery — the carrier can recover its paid benefits from the third-party settlement or judgment. Nevada law limits the workers’ comp lien to a proportionate share of the recovery after attorney’s fees and costs are deducted, ensuring the injured worker retains a meaningful net recovery from the third-party claim. Marathon Law Group coordinates the workers’ compensation claim and the third-party civil claim as a unified strategy to maximize total recovery for Las Vegas workplace injury victims.