Nebraska: Internet Search for Registered Sex Offenders Leads to Workplace Assault

A Nebraska appellate court affirmed the denial of workers’ compensation benefits for an employee who sustained injuries to his nose, clavicle and shoulder when he was assaulted on the employer’s premises by a co-worker wielding a brass hammer. Prior to the incident, the two had little contact. They had never exchanged angry words nor been involved in any physical altercations. The attacking co-worker had, however, performed an Internet search and discovered that the other employee was named on the list of registered sex offenders. The attacking co-worker assaulted the other employee and called him a “chimo” (short for child molester). The injured employee sought workers’ compensation benefits, contending that in as much as the only contact the two men had was at the workplace, his injuries arose out of and in the course of the employment. Quoting Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the appellate court disagreed. Where the animosity between the two workers was imported from domestic or private life, and not exacerbated by the employment, the assault did not arise from the employment.

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 McDaniel v. Western Sugar Coop., 2015 Neb. App. LEXIS 121 (July 14, 2015) [2015 Neb. App. LEXIS 121 (July 14, 2015)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 8.02 [8.02]

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see http://www.workcompwriter.com/assault-by-nebraska-employee-against-sex-offender-co-employee-did-not-arise-from-the-employment/

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

For more information about LexisNexis products and solutions connect with us through our corporate site