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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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Oct 28, 2019

Illinois Commission Does Not Have Exclusive Jurisdiction Over Insurance Coverage Question

Acknowledging that under 820 ILCS 305/18, questions under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act must generally be determined by the state’s Industrial Commission, a state appellate court held that the circuit...

Illinois Commission Does Not Have Exclusive Jurisdiction Over Insurance Coverage Question Illinois Commission Does Not Have Exclusive Jurisdiction Over Insurance Coverage Question
Oct 25, 2019

California Employer/Insurer’s Right to Subrogation Does Not Bar Removal of Case to Federal District Court

That a California employer and/or its workers’ compensation insurer might have a subrogation interest in the proceeds of any recovery in a third-party negligence action originally filed in a state...

California Employer/Insurer’s Right to Subrogation Does Not Bar Removal of Case to Federal District Court California Employer/Insurer’s Right to Subrogation Does Not Bar Removal of Case to Federal District Court
Oct 24, 2019

Virginia Court Reverses Award of Home Health Care Provided by Spouse

That an employer had paid for home health care by an agency in the past did not necessarily mean the care provided by an injured employee’s spouse was compensable under...

Virginia Court Reverses Award of Home Health Care Provided by Spouse Virginia Court Reverses Award of Home Health Care Provided by Spouse
Oct 23, 2019

NY Court Weighs in on AWW Computation for Claimant Working Substantially Less Than Full Year Before Injury

Where a claimant worked six days a week from February 13, 2017 until May 14, 2017, when he sustained work-related injuries, earning $12,130.76 for the thirteen-week period, it was error...

NY Court Weighs in on AWW Computation for Claimant Working Substantially Less Than Full Year Before Injury NY Court Weighs in on AWW Computation for Claimant Working Substantially Less Than Full Year Before Injury
Oct 22, 2019

Florida IME MD Need Not be Board-Certified Pulmonologist to Testify as to Causation of Lung Condition

Testimony by the employer’s independent medical examiner, in which the physician opined that the major contributing cause of claimant’s need for treatment for his respiratory condition was his 17-year history...

Florida IME MD Need Not be Board-Certified Pulmonologist to Testify as to Causation of Lung Condition Florida IME MD Need Not be Board-Certified Pulmonologist to Testify as to Causation of Lung Condition
Oct 21, 2019

NY Court Hints that Employer Might be Required to Pay for Medical Marijuana

In the first appellate decision from New York to deal with the intersection of the state’s medical marijuana law with its Workers’ Compensation Law, a state appellate court recently held...

NY Court Hints that Employer Might be Required to Pay for Medical Marijuana NY Court Hints that Employer Might be Required to Pay for Medical Marijuana
Oct 18, 2019

Injured Worker May Proceed Under Florida’s Consumer Practices Act Against Her Medical Providers

In a divided decision, a Florida appellate court found that a state trial court had erred when it dismissed an action filed by an injured worker against her workers’ compensation...

Injured Worker May Proceed Under Florida’s Consumer Practices Act Against Her Medical Providers Injured Worker May Proceed Under Florida’s Consumer Practices Act Against Her Medical Providers
Oct 17, 2019

Nebraska Small Business Owner Entitled to $49 Weekly Benefit in Spite of Profits of $200,000 Per Year

Stressing that net profits from the operation of a principal’s subchapter S corporation are not the equivalent of wages earned, the Supreme Court of Nebraska affirmed a determination by the...

Nebraska Small Business Owner Entitled to $49 Weekly Benefit in Spite of Profits of $200,000 Per Year Nebraska Small Business Owner Entitled to $49 Weekly Benefit in Spite of Profits of $200,000 Per Year
Oct 15, 2019

PA Court Says “Protz-Fix” is Constitutionally OK

Section 306(a.3) Mandating Use of AMA Guides, 6th Ed., Stands In enacting 77 Pa. Stat. § 511.3, which mandates a physician’s use of the American Medical Association “Guides to the...

PA Court Says “Protz-Fix” is Constitutionally OK PA Court Says “Protz-Fix” is Constitutionally OK
Oct 11, 2019

Ninth Circuit Says California’s Insolvency Fund Need Not Reimburse CMS for Medicare’s Conditional Payments

Yesterday (October 10, 2019), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a decision by a U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in which the lower court had...

Ninth Circuit Says California’s Insolvency Fund Need Not Reimburse CMS for Medicare’s Conditional Payments Ninth Circuit Says California’s Insolvency Fund Need Not Reimburse CMS for Medicare’s Conditional Payments
Oct 10, 2019

NY Red Cross Volunteer May Not Recover for Injuries During Charitable “Work”

A New York appellate court recently affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board that had denied workers’ compensation benefits to a Volunteer Community Ambassador for the Red Cross...

NY Red Cross Volunteer May Not Recover for Injuries During Charitable “Work” NY Red Cross Volunteer May Not Recover for Injuries During Charitable “Work”
Oct 9, 2019

NY Claim Denied Where Carrier Was Prejudiced by Two-Year Delay in Claim Filing

A New York appellate court recently affirmed a decision by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board denying a claim for failure to provide proper notice to the workers’ compensation carrier where...

NY Claim Denied Where Carrier Was Prejudiced by Two-Year Delay in Claim Filing NY Claim Denied Where Carrier Was Prejudiced by Two-Year Delay in Claim Filing

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