Workers' Compensation

Recent Posts

Delaware: Running Inside Employer’s Facility Results in Denial of Injury Claim
Posted on 30 Aug 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

As is the case in a number of other states, Delaware’s Workers’ Compensation Act bars recovery of benefits if the employee’s injury results from “the employee’s deliberate and reckless indifference to danger” [19 Del... Read More

Virginia: Employee’s Actions Were Not a Violation of Known Safety Rule
Posted on 30 Aug 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

Acknowledging that pursuant to Va. Code § 65.2306(A), an injured worker can be disqualified from receiving workers’ compensation benefits if he or she intentionally engages in activity contrary to a known safety rule imposed by the employer... Read More

New York: No § 114-a Violation Claimant’s Inexperience With PCs Explained Inconsistencies in Online Job Applications
Posted on 25 Apr 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

A decision by the New York Workers’ Compensation Board that found a claimant had made the sort of misrepresentations under N.Y. Workers’ Comp. Law § 114-a that would justify termination of her workers’ compensation benefits was... Read More

New York: Truck Driver’s Failure to Mention Side Business Did Not Result in Forfeiture of Benefits
Posted on 16 Jun 2019 by Thomas A. Robinson

A New York truck driver’s failure to disclose his involvement in an online and retail flower business was not the sort of misrepresentation that should disqualify him from receiving workers’ compensation benefits under N.Y. Workers’... Read More

New York: Claimant Disqualified from Future Benefits Based Upon Misrepresentations as to Post-Injury Earnings
Posted on 18 Jan 2019 by Thomas A. Robinson

A New York appellate court affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that found in relevant part that claimant violated N.Y. Workers’ Comp. Law § 114-a and disqualified him from future indemnity benefits where... Read More

New York: Videotape Evidence Sinks Claimant’s Claim
Posted on 25 Oct 2018 by Thomas A. Robinson

A workers’ compensation claimant was appropriately disqualified from receiving benefits under N.Y. Work. Comp. Law § 114-a(1) where claimant represented to his treating physician and the carrier's medical expert that he was in constant... Read More

Virginia: Failure to Wear Seatbelt Was Willful Misconduct on Part of Bus Driver
Posted on 19 Oct 2018 by Thomas A. Robinson

The failure of a Virginia bus driver to lock and wear his seatbelt upon picking up passengers—he later sustained serious injuries when his vehicle was struck from behind, careened down a guardrail, and then flipped—constituted willful misconduct... Read More

Florida: “Angry Thoughts” About Co-Worker Do Not Constitute Employee Misconduct
Posted on 2 Jun 2016 by Larson's Spotlight

Statements made by a workers’ compensation claimant to her attorney that she felt like “punching the lights” out of a co-worker, whom the claimant felt had intentionally caused the claimant injury at work, were not the sort of acts that... Read More

New Rules of OALJ Rules of Practice and Procedure Increase Powers to Administrative Law Judges
Posted on 22 Feb 2016 by John Kawczynski

By John E. Kawczynski, Field & Kawczynski, LLC, South Amboy, New Jersey In his commentary “ About Time! New ALJ Regulations Finally Final , ” Tom Fitzhugh examined how the new “Rules of Practice and Procedure for Administrative... Read More

Louisiana: Surveillance Video Nixes Worker’s Benefits
Posted on 3 Nov 2016 by Thomas A. Robinson

A Louisiana appellate court affirmed a decision by a state workers’ compensation judge that a worker forfeited his right to workers’ compensation benefits because he deliberately made false statements in order to obtain workers’ compensation... Read More

Florida: Intoxication Defense Waived by Carrier Once 120-Day "Pay-and-Investigate" Period Had Passed
Posted on 1 Mar 2018 by Thomas A. Robinson

Noting that once a Florida employer (or carrier) becomes aware of the need for medical benefits for a particular condition or injury, it has three options: pay, deny, or pay and investigate within 120 days, in accordance with § 440.20(4), Fla. Stat... Read More

Massachusetts: Indicted EMT Allowed Workers’ Compensation Benefits While Under Indictment
Posted on 19 May 2017 by Thomas A. Robinson

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 268A, § 25, which generally allows Massachusetts municipalities to suspend “compensation” while an employee is under indictment for malfeasance, did not proscribe the receipt of workers’ compensation benefits... Read More

Ohio: Court Reiterates “Substantially Certain” Test No Longer Applicable in Intentional Tort Actions
Posted on 4 Mar 2016 by Larson's Spotlight

While the action of the employer in utilizing undersized “outriggers” to extend a work platform could be characterized as reckless, the employer was nevertheless entitled to summary judgment in an intentional tort action filed against it by... Read More

Virginia: Proving Employee’s Intoxication Insufficient to Defeat Claim
Posted on 2 Mar 2017 by Thomas A. Robinson

Proof that an employee was intoxicated at the time of his or her injury is not sufficient to defeat the claim, held a Virginia appellate court recently; the employer must also prove that the intoxication caused the accident resulting in injury. Where... Read More

Georgia: “Controlled Descent” Goes Out of Control; Board Should Have Made Fact Findings as to Worker’s Rashness
Posted on 2 Mar 2017 by Thomas A. Robinson

In Georgia, violation of express instructions or the mere doing of a hazardous act in which the danger is obvious does not constitute willful misconduct that disqualifies an injured employee from an award of benefits; the employer must also show that... Read More