Federal: Employee’s Civil Action for Damages Associated With Radioactive Dust May Proceed

Allegations that an employer knew of the risks and dangers of encountering failed radioactive fuel plates when it ordered an employee to repackage and/or continue the repackaging process, that it failed to warn the employee of the dangers, failed to follow federal safety regulations, and intentionally and knowingly exposed the employee to radioactive particles, were sufficient to withstand the employer’s motion to dismiss on the ground that the civil action, filed under the Price-Anderson Act and various Idaho state laws, was barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of the Idaho Workers’ Compensation Act. The federal court indicated that if true, such allegations could establish that the employee’s injuries were caused by the willful or unprovoked physical aggression of the employer. Such willful or unprovoked physical aggression was outside the scope of the Idaho Act.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.

See Braase v. Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20537 (D. Idaho, Feb. 18, 2016) [2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20537 (D. Idaho, Feb. 18, 2016)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 103.01 [103.01]

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

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