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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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Nov 13, 2024

KY Court Reverses Board: Nurse Failed to Prove COVID-19 Was Work-Related

A Kentucky appellate court has reversed a Workers’ Compensation Board decision that would have allowed a hospital nurse’s COVID-19 claim to proceed under a relaxed causation standard. The Board had...

KY Court Reverses Board: Nurse Failed to Prove COVID-19 Was Work-Related KY Court Reverses Board: Nurse Failed to Prove COVID-19 Was Work-Related
Nov 12, 2024

De Novo, Deference, or Something in Between: The Complex Landscape of Workers’ Compensation Administrative Review

Personal Observation In 1977, I stood before the North Carolina Industrial Commission as a young workers’ compensation defense attorney, barely a year into practice, challenging a deputy commissioner’s credibility determination....

De Novo, Deference, or Something in Between: The Complex Landscape of Workers’ Compensation Administrative Review De Novo, Deference, or Something in Between: The Complex Landscape of Workers’ Compensation Administrative Review
Nov 10, 2024

NY Factory Worker’s COVID-19 Claim Fails: No Showing of Workplace Exposure

In another decision highlighting the difficulties faced by workers seeking COVID-19 compensation benefits in jurisdictions lacking a presumption of compensability, a New York appellate court has affirmed the state Board’s...

NY Factory Worker’s COVID-19 Claim Fails: No Showing of Workplace Exposure NY Factory Worker’s COVID-19 Claim Fails: No Showing of Workplace Exposure
Nov 7, 2024

NC Court’s Special Employment Analysis Raises Important Question

On Tuesday, in an unpublished decision, the North Carolina Court of Appeals reversed a trial court’s denial of summary judgment for a corporate defendant in a civil action filed against...

NC Court’s Special Employment Analysis Raises Important Question NC Court’s Special Employment Analysis Raises Important Question
Nov 5, 2024

Iowa: Death Benefits Awarded Where Evidence of Suicide Found Insufficient

The Iowa Court of Appeals recently affirmed a workers’ compensation commissioner’s decision awarding death benefits to a surviving spouse, finding substantial evidence supported the commissioner’s determination that the worker’s fatal...

Iowa: Death Benefits Awarded Where Evidence of Suicide Found Insufficient Iowa: Death Benefits Awarded Where Evidence of Suicide Found Insufficient
Nov 4, 2024

Understanding the Odd-Lot Doctrine in Workers’ Compensation Law: Origins, Evolution, and Modern Application

Origins and Commercial Context Within commercial and financial contexts, the term “odd lot” has long been used to describe non-standard quantities of goods or securities that, because of their irregular...

Understanding the Odd-Lot Doctrine in Workers’ Compensation Law: Origins, Evolution, and Modern Application Understanding the Odd-Lot Doctrine in Workers’ Compensation Law: Origins, Evolution, and Modern Application
Oct 28, 2024

IL Appellate Court Awards TPD Benefits Under Odd-Lot Doctrine

Last week, in an unpublished decision, an Illinois appellate court reversed a Workers’ Compensation Commission’s denial of permanent total disability benefits, holding that a 77-year-old bus driver qualified for benefits...

IL Appellate Court Awards TPD Benefits Under Odd-Lot Doctrine IL Appellate Court Awards TPD Benefits Under Odd-Lot Doctrine
Oct 25, 2024

KY High Court: Injuries Sustained in Las Vegas Slip and Fall While Shopping are Compensable

Yesterday, relying heavily upon the discussion of the “traveling employee exception” to the going and coming rule found in Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed decisions of...

KY High Court: Injuries Sustained in Las Vegas Slip and Fall While Shopping are Compensable KY High Court: Injuries Sustained in Las Vegas Slip and Fall While Shopping are Compensable
Oct 21, 2024

Kansas Court Affirms Out-of-State Injury Compensable Under Kansas Comp Act

Last Friday, the Kansas Court of Appeals affirmed a decision of the state’s Workers Compensation Board awarding additional benefits under the Kansas Workers’ Compensation Act to a nurse who moved...

Kansas Court Affirms Out-of-State Injury Compensable Under Kansas Comp Act Kansas Court Affirms Out-of-State Injury Compensable Under Kansas Comp Act
Oct 21, 2024

PA Court Says IRE Physicians Should Consider Conditions Beyond Accepted Injury Description

Last Thursday, the Commonwealth Court affirmed a Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board’s ruling that rejected a physician's impairment rating evaluation (IRE) because the physician had failed to consider conditions beyond the...

PA Court Says IRE Physicians Should Consider Conditions Beyond Accepted Injury Description PA Court Says IRE Physicians Should Consider Conditions Beyond Accepted Injury Description
Oct 15, 2024

Ohio’s Firefighter Cancer Presumption is Difficult to Rebut

In a recent decision that closely mirrors an earlier case, the Ohio Court of Appeals (Tenth Appellate District) has further solidified the strength of statutory presumptions favoring firefighters in cancer-related...

Ohio’s Firefighter Cancer Presumption is Difficult to Rebut Ohio’s Firefighter Cancer Presumption is Difficult to Rebut
Oct 14, 2024

NY Worker’s Claim Found Compensable Despite Severe Intoxication

In a decision that emphasizes the high bar for denying workers’ compensation claims in New York based on employee intoxication, a state appellate court recently affirmed a ruling by the...

NY Worker’s Claim Found Compensable Despite Severe Intoxication NY Worker’s Claim Found Compensable Despite Severe Intoxication

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