A rule in workers' compensation law that usually makes workers' comp benefits an injured employee's only recovery against the employer for a job-related injury, even when the worker believes the employer was careless.

A lot of bad advice starts with "just sue your boss." Usually, that is not how it works. If a warehouse worker slips on ice, a deckhand gets hurt handling gear, or a lineman is injured after storm damage, the worker generally files a workers' compensation claim for medical care, wage-loss benefits, and other covered losses instead of bringing a regular personal injury lawsuit against the employer. The tradeoff is simple: faster no-fault benefits, but no pain-and-suffering claim against the employer in most cases.

That does not mean every lawsuit is blocked. Claims against a negligent third party may still be allowed, such as a driver, equipment maker, or property owner who was not the employer. In Maine, workers' comp exclusivity is part of the Maine Workers' Compensation Act, Title 39-A M.R.S. § 104. That matters because people often confuse it with Maine's modified comparative fault rule, 14 M.R.S. § 156 (1965), which bars recovery when a person is 50% or more at fault. Comparative fault can matter in a third-party case, but it does not replace the exclusive-remedy rule for claims against the employer.