Bill Would Eliminate Deliberate Intent Exemption to Exclusive Remedy

Workers’ compensation would be the exclusive remedy even when an employer deliberately intends to cause a workplace injury or death, under a bill before West Virginia lawmakers. House Bill 4394, by Rep. John Paul Hott, R-Grant, would eliminate laws allowing injured workers to bring tort actions against employers that act with deliberate intention. State law identifies several ways that a worker could prove the employer intended to cause an accident, including showing actual and specific intent to produce the injury or death or that the employer failed to fix a known unsafe working cond...