Workers' Compensation

Recent Posts

Iowa: Almost any Written Document Can Serve as Notice of Injury to Employer
Posted on 25 Apr 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

Acknowledging that pursuant to Iowa Code § 85.23, an employee ordinarily must provide a written notice of injury to the employer, but also stressing that the notice need not take any particular form, an Iowa appellate court affirmed a trial court’s... Read More

New York: Two-Month Delay in Filing Report of Injury with Employer Sinks Worker’s Claim
Posted on 11 Apr 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

Where a New York employee’s job responsibilities included controverting workers’ compensation claims, his failure to notify his employer of an alleged work-related injury within the 30-day time period specified in N.Y. Workers’ Comp... Read More

Pennsylvania: 120-Day Notice Period Does Not End on Sunday Even if Employer is Open for Business
Posted on 19 Jan 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

That an employer operates its business on Sundays and, therefore, would have been able to receive a notice of injury by an injured employee on that day, has no effect on the 120-day notice period found in Section 311 of the Pennsylvania Workers’... Read More

New York: Worker’s Failure to Give Statutory Notice of Injury Was Not Excused
Posted on 2 Aug 2019 by Thomas A. Robinson

New York’s Workers’ Compensation Board acted within its statutory powers when it found that a worker failed to provide the employer with the required notice under N.Y. Workers’ Comp. § 18, held a state appellate court. While the... Read More

Montana: Security Guard’s Quick Notes Regarding Assault by Unruly Patient Was Insufficient Notice to Employer of Claim
Posted on 25 Jul 2019 by Thomas A. Robinson

The Supreme Court of Montana held that a hospital security guard failed to provide sufficient notice of injury to his employer when he made sketchy notations in a daily log book that he had been hit in the nose by an unruly psychiatric patient that he... Read More

North Dakota: Failure to File Claim Within 29 Months of Injury Bars Recovery of Benefits
Posted on 14 Dec 2018 by Thomas A. Robinson

In North Dakota, as is also the case in most states, the claims filing period begins on the date of injury. Under N.D. Cent. Code § 65-05-01, however, if the employee suffers from a latent injury or condition, the filing period begins on the first... Read More

New York: Board Justified in Failing to Excuse Claimant’s Late Notice to Employer
Posted on 7 Sep 2018 by Thomas A. Robinson

Where an employer placed a worker on medical leave in February 2013, due to a bilateral knee condition and, more than a year later, and after consulting with a different orthopedist, the worker sought workers' compensation benefits, attributing her... Read More

South Carolina: Timely Notice is Subject to Substantial Evidence Standard, Not De Novo Review
Posted on 6 Apr 2018 by Thomas A. Robinson

The question of timely notice to the employer was not a jurisdictional question subject to de novo review, held the Supreme Court of South Carolina. Accordingly, where the Court of Appeals employed the de novo standard, instead of the substantial evidence... Read More

Oregon: Employer’s Knowledge of Worker’s Concurrent Employment Not Imputed to Insurer for Purposes of “Extra” Benefits Award
Posted on 8 Jul 2016 by Larson's Spotlight

In Oregon, if an injured worker has more than one employer, he or she may be entitled to supplemental temporary disability benefits from the Workers’ Benefit Fund, in addition to the disability benefits the worker receives from the employer’s... Read More

South Carolina: Formal Notice to Employer Excused Where Supervisor Witnessed Employee’s Injury
Posted on 6 Apr 2017 by Thomas A. Robinson

Acknowledging that S.C. Code § 42–15–20 requires that every injured employee or his representative give the employer “notice” of a job-related accident, but that no specific form of notice was actually required under the statute... Read More

South Carolina: Statement to Employer That Employee Was “Pretty Sore” Constituted Notice of Injury
Posted on 22 Apr 2016 by Larson's Spotlight

Evidence that one day after moving tires, rims and heavy frame equipment while cleaning his employer’s shop, an auto body paint technician told the employer’s owner that he was “pretty sore” and he “must have hurt [himself... Read More

New York: Lack of Written Notice of Injury Excused Where Claimant Told Supervisor of Work-Related Injury
Posted on 5 Jan 2018 by Thomas A. Robinson

It was within the discretion of New York’s Workers' Compensation Board to excuse a claimant's failure to provide timely written notice where competent evidence indicated the injured worker actually reported her leg injury to her supervisor... Read More

Florida: Employer’s Failure to Notify Carrier of Injury Claim Proves Prejudicial to Carrier
Posted on 17 Oct 2014 by Larson's Spotlight

A Florida appellate court, reversing in relevant part a decision by a state JCC, held that a worker should have been reimbursed for all his medical expenses, mileage and co-payments incurred for treatment of a work-related injury in spite of the fact... Read More

New York: Employee Need Not Give Separate Notice for Additional Injuries Related to Original Accident
Posted on 19 May 2016 by Larson's Spotlight

For purposes of N.Y. Work. Comp. Law § 18, “accident” is not synonymous with the term injury. Accordingly, where a medical surgical technician slipped on a wet floor while performing her duties and reported an injury to her left knee... Read More