Hurt on the Job by Someone Else's Negligence? Workers' Comp Plus Third-Party Claims in Maryland
A delivery driver is rear-ended on his route. A construction worker is hurt when another company's subcontractor drops a load. A home health aide slips on an unshoveled walkway at a client's building. Each of them has a workers' compensation claim — and each of them may have something more valuable that too many injured workers never pursue: a third-party negligence claim against the person or company outside their employer who actually caused the harm.
Two claims, two very different systems
Workers' compensation is a trade. In exchange for benefits paid regardless of fault, Maryland workers generally cannot sue their own employers for negligence — comp is the "exclusive remedy" against the employer. But that bargain binds only the employer. When a third party — another driver, a different contractor on the site, a property owner, an equipment manufacturer — negligently injures you while you're working, Maryland law lets you pursue both:
| Workers' compensation | Third-party lawsuit | |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays | Employer's comp insurer, regardless of fault | The negligent third party (usually their liability insurer) |
| Medical bills | Covered | Recoverable |
| Lost wages | Partial (a fraction of your average weekly wage, subject to limits) | Full lost earnings and lost earning capacity |
| Pain and suffering | Never | Recoverable |
| Fault required | No | Yes — you must prove negligence |
That third row is the headline: comp pays only a fraction of your wages and nothing at all for pain and suffering. For a seriously injured worker, the third-party case is usually where genuine compensation lives.
The timing rules of § 9-902
Maryland structures the interplay through Md. Code, Labor & Employment § 9-901 et seq. A few rules to know:
- After the Workers' Compensation Commission makes an award, the employer/insurer has an initial exclusive two-month window to sue the third party itself (it rarely does). Once two months pass, the injured worker may bring the action in his or her own name. § 9-902.
- The statute contains a corresponding quirk: the limitations period for the employee's third-party action does not begin to run until two months after the first compensation award. In practice, never plan around the quirk — treat the general three-year negligence deadline as the outside marker and move well before it.
The comp lien — and why it isn't a reason to skip the lawsuit
Because the law won't allow a double recovery for the same medical bills and wages, the comp insurer gets reimbursed from a third-party recovery. The statutory order of operations, though, works in the worker's favor more than most expect: litigation costs and attorney's fees come off first, then the insurer is reimbursed for what it actually paid, and the worker keeps the rest — which includes everything attributable to pain and suffering and the uncompensated share of lost wages. Comp liens are also frequently negotiable, and reducing them is part of the job of a lawyer handling the third-party case.
A simplified illustration: suppose the comp insurer paid $40,000 in medical bills and wage benefits, and the third-party case settles for $300,000. Costs and fees come off the top first; the insurer is then reimbursed its $40,000 (or a negotiated smaller figure) from what remains; and the balance — the largest share, reflecting pain and suffering and the wages comp never fully replaced — belongs to the worker. The lien, in other words, is an accounting step at the end, not a reason to leave a six-figure claim unpursued.
What this means for injured workers in Maryland
1. Always ask the second question. "Do I have a comp claim?" is question one. Question two — "did anyone outside my employer cause this?" — is where full compensation lies. Car crashes on the job, multi-employer construction sites, defective tools and machinery, and dangerous premises are the classic categories. On construction sites in particular, the web of general contractors, subcontractors, and site owners almost always includes at least one entity that is not your employer — and therefore not shielded by the exclusivity rule. 2. The two claims must be run in coordination. What happens in the comp case (medical findings, disability ratings, hearings testimony) echoes in the negligence case, and vice versa. Handling them in isolation costs money. 3. Contributory negligence applies to the lawsuit. Maryland's all-or-nothing fault rule governs the third-party claim (though not the comp claim), so the negligence case must be built carefully from the start.
If you or a loved one has been hurt, call Posey Lebowitz at (202) 524-0123 or send us a message for a free consultation.
Part of our DMV case law archive, compiled in 2026 to reflect the archive of some of the most important decisions in injury law.