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Jul 16, 2026

Personal Comfort Doctrine Reaches a Formal, Unpaid Break

PA Court Finds a 15-Minute Break’s Brevity Outweighs Its Formality The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania recently affirmed an award of workers’ compensation benefits to a pharmacy technician struck by a...

Personal Comfort Doctrine Reaches a Formal, Unpaid Break Personal Comfort Doctrine Reaches a Formal, Unpaid Break
Jul 14, 2026

Trucker’s Retaliation Claim Runs Aground in His Own Hay Field

Idaho Federal Court Finds Surveillance and a Full-Duty Release Defeat Workers' Comp Retaliatory Discharge Claim The U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho recently granted summary judgment for a...

Trucker’s Retaliation Claim Runs Aground in His Own Hay Field Trucker’s Retaliation Claim Runs Aground in His Own Hay Field
Jul 13, 2026

FL High Court Rejects Motive Requirement for Workplace Assault Claims

Risk-Exposure Evidence Alone Can Establish the Causal Link, Justices Hold Last Thursday, In a unanimous decision authored by Justice Muñiz, the Supreme Court of Florida held that a workplace assault...

FL High Court Rejects Motive Requirement for Workplace Assault Claims FL High Court Rejects Motive Requirement for Workplace Assault Claims
Jul 8, 2026

KY Court Revives Tort Claims From Mayfield Candle Factory Tornado Deaths

Supervisors Who Allegedly Blocked Exits Fell Outside the Workers’ Comp Act’s Exclusive Remedy The Kentucky Court of Appeals has revived tort claims brought by survivors of the December 2021 tornado...

KY Court Revives Tort Claims From Mayfield Candle Factory Tornado Deaths KY Court Revives Tort Claims From Mayfield Candle Factory Tornado Deaths

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Mar 4, 2016

Does Torres Signal How OK High Court Will Decide Constitutionality of Opt Out?

As I reported on Wednesday, in Torres v. Seaboard Foods, LLC, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma struck down a provision in the state’s workers’ compensation law that disqualifies a claimant...

Does Torres Signal How OK High Court Will Decide Constitutionality of Opt Out? Does Torres Signal How OK High Court Will Decide Constitutionality of Opt Out?
Mar 2, 2016

Oklahoma High Court Strikes Down State’s 180-Day Cumulative Trauma Employment Rule

In Recent “Comp” Decisions (the other from Commission), Oklahoma Legislature Is “0 for 2” A provision in Okla. Stat. tit. 85A, § 2(14) that disqualifies a claimant from recovering for...

Oklahoma High Court Strikes Down State’s 180-Day Cumulative Trauma Employment Rule Oklahoma High Court Strikes Down State’s 180-Day Cumulative Trauma Employment Rule
Feb 26, 2016

Oklahoma Commission Strikes Down State’s Opt Out Law

Equal Treatment Under the State’s Dual System is “a Water Mirage” This afternoon (Feb. 26, 2016), in a lengthy Commission Order, the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Commission found that Sections 203...

Oklahoma Commission Strikes Down State’s Opt Out Law Oklahoma Commission Strikes Down State’s Opt Out Law
Feb 25, 2016

Facebook® Plays Role in Indiana $400,000 Verdict for Retaliatory Discharge

An Indiana jury was within its province as factfinder in returning a verdict for more than $400,000 in compensatory and punitive damages against a former employer in a retaliatory discharge...

Facebook® Plays Role in Indiana $400,000 Verdict for Retaliatory Discharge Facebook® Plays Role in Indiana $400,000 Verdict for Retaliatory Discharge
Feb 22, 2016

Georgia Mother May Sue Deceased Son’s Employer and Staffing Company Where Co-Worker Murderer May Have been Negligently Hired

A mother’s wrongful death action against her son’s employer was not barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of the Georgia Workers’ Compensation Act (“Act”) where the undisputed facts clearly showed...

Georgia Mother May Sue Deceased Son’s Employer and Staffing Company Where Co-Worker Murderer May Have been Negligently Hired Georgia Mother May Sue Deceased Son’s Employer and Staffing Company Where Co-Worker Murderer May Have been Negligently Hired
Feb 18, 2016

Wyoming Father May Sue Employer For Anguish Related to Co-employee Son’s Death

Where a father and son were co-employees working at an excavation site and the son was struck in the head with the bucket of a track hoe—the blow causing serious...

Wyoming Father May Sue Employer For Anguish Related to Co-employee Son’s Death Wyoming Father May Sue Employer For Anguish Related to Co-employee Son’s Death
Feb 16, 2016

Illinois Court Says Flight Attendant is Not a Traveling Employee While “Commuting”

In what at first blush might appear as a counter-intuitive ruling, an Illinois appellate court has held that a flight attendant who injured her knee on a flight from Denver...

Illinois Court Says Flight Attendant is Not a Traveling Employee While “Commuting” Illinois Court Says Flight Attendant is Not a Traveling Employee While “Commuting”
Feb 3, 2016

2016 Opt Out Legislation: Is it as “Inevitable” as Some Have Hoped/Feared?

I read with great interest Bob Wilson’s post yesterday signaling that the Tennessee Opt Out “initiative” may be DOA this year.  Indeed, I’d been checking Bill Tracking Reports since the...

2016 Opt Out Legislation: Is it as “Inevitable” as Some Have Hoped/Feared? 2016 Opt Out Legislation: Is it as “Inevitable” as Some Have Hoped/Feared?
Jan 28, 2016

Tennessee Nurse’s PTSD Claim Fails In Spite of Flashback to Being Raped As Child

In an opinion not yet designated for publication [see Ireton v. Horizon Mental Health Mgmt., LLC, 2016 Tenn. LEXIS 3 (Jan. 19, 2016), a Tennessee appeals panel affirmed the denial...

Tennessee Nurse’s PTSD Claim Fails In Spite of Flashback to Being Raped As Child Tennessee Nurse’s PTSD Claim Fails In Spite of Flashback to Being Raped As Child
Jan 27, 2016

Valley Fever Plaintiff Fails To Establish Comp Insurance Co.’s Extreme or Outrageous Conduct

Where a Mississippi resident contracted coccidiodomycosis (“Valley Fever”) at a job site in California and had received some indemnity and medical benefits under California’s Workers’ Compensation Act (“the Act”), he...

Valley Fever Plaintiff Fails To Establish Comp Insurance Co.’s Extreme or Outrageous Conduct Valley Fever Plaintiff Fails To Establish Comp Insurance Co.’s Extreme or Outrageous Conduct
Jan 27, 2016

Georgia M.D.’s Medical Report Indicating Claimant Was Threat to Doctor and Staff Not Libelous

Where an patient’s treating physician dictated a narrative report that became part of the patient’s worker’s compensation claim file indicating that the patient, through a translator, had made threatening statements...

Georgia M.D.’s Medical Report Indicating Claimant Was Threat to Doctor and Staff Not Libelous Georgia M.D.’s Medical Report Indicating Claimant Was Threat to Doctor and Staff Not Libelous
Jan 14, 2016

New Mexico Employer Need Not Accommodate Medical Marijuana Use

An employer need not accommodate a New Mexico employee’s use of medical marijuana, even when that use is sanctioned under the state’s Compassionate Use Act (“CUA”), held a federal district...

New Mexico Employer Need Not Accommodate Medical Marijuana Use New Mexico Employer Need Not Accommodate Medical Marijuana Use

New Comments

  • ramivou: They hid behind a flawed "reading" of this statute for a decade. I am glad the SC finally put an end to the misconception that it was a "first six months only" filing requirement, rather than an ongoing responsibility.
  • trob: Thanks for the query. New York's going and coming doctrine is similar to that in place in the majority of jurisdictions. That is to say that for employees with a fixed place of work and who are on a relatively consistent work schedule, the commute to and from the residence is outside the course and scope of the employment. Often overlooked is the fact that the employee must generally have a fixed ...
  • ramivou: Is coming and going covered in NY?
  • trob: Excellent question. My thought is that the employer was following what it assumed was the typical practice of seeking to protect its "subrogation" interest in state court; in virtually all jurisdictions, the state trial courts are where subrogation issues are litigated. What differed here, of course, was that it wasn't a standard subrogation case, i.e., the employee's work-related injury wasn't ca...
  • ramivou: Why didn't they file it with the state Commission instead?
  • Thomas A. Robinson: I suspect that ACME could seek contractual indemnity, as you note, either from the staffing agency or its carrier. The goal of the Board or agency generally is to see to the proper award of benefits for compensable injuries. Allowing the "aggrieved" parties to sort it out later is completely consistent with the overall theory of workers' compensation. Many thanks for the comment. Best wishes.
  • Barry Stinson: I wonder if Acme's insurer could seek contractural indemnity from Variety's insurer outside of the WC system.
  • Michael C. Duff: The conceptual distinction is between joint causation and presumptive single causation.
  • Thomas A. Robinson: Sorry, I don't/can't provide legal advice. Best wishes, however.
  • Ken Smith: What can I do when my attorney blows my case with an incomplete RB89