Opinion ID: 1116091
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: rights between employer and employee

Text: Worker's compensation statutes were enacted to provide a mechanism for the settlement of claims for injury or death by the worker or his survivors against his employer. It was said that, `The master, in exchange for limited liability, was willing to pay on some claims in the future, where in the past there had been no liability at all. The servant was willing, not only to give up trial by jury, but to accept far less than he had often won in court, provided he was sure to get the small sum without having to fight for it. All agreed that the blood of the workman was the cost of production; that the industry should bear the charge.' Zancanelli v. Central Coal & Coke Company, 25 Wyo. 511, 542-543, 173 P. 981 (1918) (quoting from Stertz v. Industrial Insurance Commission of Washington, 91 Wash. 588, 158 P. 256, 258 (1916)). The rights and remedies afforded under the Worker's Compensation Act and the amount of payment provided thereunder, for an employee and his dependents for injuries incurred in extrahazardous employment are in lieu of all other rights and remedies against any employer   . Section 27-12-103, W.S. 1977. The remedy provided the worker as recompense for his injuries is his exclusive remedy, Baker v. Wendy's of Montana, Inc., Wyo., 687 P.2d 885 (1984), and settles his claim against the employer for all time. Jordan v. Delta Drilling Company, Wyo., 541 P.2d 39, 48, 78 A.L.R.3d 1215 (1975). It is clear that the language `take the place of any and all rights of action' and `shall be exclusive of all other rights and remedies', means just what is said and needs no judicial construction. While not strongly in point, it was held in Hart v. Blair, Wyo., 1963, 378 P.2d 677, that, as a general proposition, the exclusive remedy of the Wyoming workmen's compensation laws is the only remedy available unless the employment was unlawful or illegal. (Footnote omitted.) The same is not true with respect to the worker's claims against a third party.