Dec 1 (Reuters) - An employee at the Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, where a supervisor shot six co-workers dead last week may struggle to prevail in a $50-million lawsuit she filed accusing the retailer of failing to protect its workers, legal experts say.

A system meant to help workers get compensated for workplace injuries could make it difficult for the lawsuit to succeed.

The United States averages two mass shootings, -- defined as an incident killing or injuring four or more people -- a day, according to Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit research group. But while many of those shootings occur in the workplace, employers are rarely held responsible.

That is in part because nearly all U.S. states, including Virginia, require employers to buy workers compensation insurance to pay workers for medical expenses and lost wages stemming from workplace injuries. In return, the employers are shielded from most lawsuits workers could otherwise bring.

"As a general matter, employees cannot sue their employers for injuries that they suffer on the job due to negligence by the employer," said Timothy Lytton, a professor at Georgia State University College of Law.

But, some states, including Virginia, do make an exception for cases of gross negligence by an employer.

Donya Prioleau, the Virginia employee suing Walmart, claims exactly that, saying that the shooter, Andre Bing, had a history of "bizarre and threatening" behavior and that she and other employees had warned Walmart...

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