If a direct employer knowingly fails to secure workers' compensation coverage or self-insured certification and does not pay a final judgment within 60 days after appeals are exhausted, the employee or a deceased employee's dependent may sue for legal damages.
§1032.1. Failure of employer to secure payment; penalties A. When a direct employer, not the statutory employer or special employer, knowingly fails to secure workers' compensation insurance or proper certification of self-insured status pursuant to R.S. 23:1168, and fails to pay a final judgment for sixty days after the parties have exhausted their rights of appeal and no other insurance or self-insurance policy or contract of workers' compensation coverage has paid the benefits due under this Chapter, then the employee or the legal dependent of a deceased employee may elect to sue the direct employer for all legal damages. Should the direct employer offer to pay the judgment for workers' compensation benefits and the employee or the legal dependent of a deceased employee accepts the offer of payment, such payment shall also discharge and satisfy the direct employer's obligation for legal damages under this Section, if the direct employer also reimburses the employee or the legal dependent of a deceased employee for all costs and expenses, including attorney fees, incurred by the employee or the legal dependent of a deceased employee in connection with the claim for legal damages to the date of the payment of the workers' compensation judgment. Should the employee or the legal dependent of a deceased employee obtain a judgment on the cause of action for legal damages, the employee or the legal dependent of a deceased employee may elect to recover from the direct employer the greater of the judgment for legal damages or the judgment for workers' compensation benefits, but the employee or the legal dependent of a deceased employee shall be limited to recovery of only one such judgment, and the payment of the judgment elected shall discharge both judgments. B. A statutory employer or special employer who has secured workers' compensation insurance or proper certification of self-insured status pursuant to R.S. 23:1168, as well as any public body or municipality, shall not be subject to the remedy provided in Subsection A of this Section and shall not be required to pay an increased weekly compensation penalty established in R.S. 23:1171.2 due to the failure of the direct employer to secure workers' compensation insurance or self-insured certification. Acts 2005, No. 257, §1.