Assaulted by Co-Worker

[youngone90]

My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Wisconsin
I was leaving work and was assaulted from behind by a co-worker while other co-workers watched including the manager. I was still on company property. The assaulter was arrested and I will pursue any legal routes towards her, but do i have any recourse towards my employer and would this be considered workers compensation or something else.

[cbg]

You can certainly try to put it through under workers comp, but you have no claim against the employer unless you have a valid and supportable reason to believe that someone in management knew or should have known what the co-worker was going to do and took no steps to prevent it. The fact that it happened at work does not automatically make the employer liable.

[BOR]

The assaulter was arrested and I will pursue any legal routes towards her, but do i have any recourse towards my employer and would this be considered workers compensation or something else.

That will have to be determined by an attorney in WI. This case outlines when an employer is responsible for the acts of it's employees, such as Intentional Torts.


Theories of employer liability
With the Miller decision, there now are at least three ways in which an employer can be held liable for the acts of employees: 1) negligent supervision; 2) respondeat superior; and 3) an employer who "knew or should have known" of the employee's tortious conduct.




http://www.wisbar.org/am/template.cf...ontentid=49258

[cbg]

As far as workers comp is concerned, in WI just about anything goes. But I think a claim against the employer is still very much a long shot.