If that employee then successfully sues the ladder manufacturer for damages, the workers'compensation carrier can use the subrogation lien mechanism to recover the workers' compensation claim. This enables the workers' compensation pool to replenish itself if monetary damages are awarded. Proposed product liability legislation over the past six years has attempted to eliminate the subrogation lien. These provisions would proscribe the legal method of recovering workers' compensation costs, in effect nullifying state subrogation provisions. Manufacturers believe that removal of the subrogation lien will encourage jobsite safety.
Contractors recognize their moral and legal obligation to provide a safe work site.
Elimination of the subrogation provisions only protects manufacturers of faulty products from liability. Workers' compensation is based on the exclusive remedy principle, which would be undermined if plaintiffs are entitled to double recovery, which in turn, would be the result of changes to subrogation. Furthermore, AGC maintains workers' compensation is a state issue and should not be rewritten at the federal level, or be debated with product liability. All Rights Reserved.