Well, in some circumstances, you can; but generally you can’t sue your employer in court because Connecticut has a system of workers’ compensation. This is a system of insurance that your employer is required to purchase so that if its employees get hurt, they can make a claim against the insurance and save the time, expense, and uncertainty of filing a lawsuit. In return for being covered by this insurance, an employee gives up his or her right to sue the employer for negligent conduct that leads to an injury. When an employee receives “workers comp,” he or she receives money to compensate him or her for lost wages, medical bills, and long-term injury that affects an employee’s ability to work in the future. Read more here: wcc.state.ct.us. One benefit to this system for employees is that they do not have to compile evidence to prove that the employer was negligent in allowing the accident to happen, as injured people usually do when they bring personal injury lawsuits. It is usually enough that the injury occurred in the workplace.

Workers’ Compensation programs originated in Europe in the mid-19th Century in response to the growing influence of socialism in industrialized Europe.

While generally speaking, employees are limited to the workers’ compensation remedies prescribed in state law, if you are injured in an accident that involved the employer’s reckless or intentional conduct you may be able to take your lawsuit to court.