New York: Presumption of Compensability Did Not Apply Despite Occurrence of Some Symptoms of Heart Attack While Still at Work

New York’s Workers’ Compensation Act includes a presumption of compensability if the employee’s injury occurs while he or she is at work [see N.Y. Work. Comp. Law § 21]. A state appellate court ruled that a widow could not take advantage of that presumption where her husband died from a heart attack while sleeping at home. She had continued that his initial discomfort and other symptoms related to his infarction occurred at work. The court stressed that the deceased employee had been able to complete his shift as a deputy sheriff. He had not sought medical treatment. Evidence supported the Board’s finding that the death was not causally connected to the work.

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.

See Matter of Bordonaro v Genesee County Sheriff’s Office, 2017 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2443 (3rd Dept., Mar. 30, 2017)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 7.04.

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