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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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Apr 6, 2017

Employer Not Prejudiced by Lack of Formal Notice When Supervisor Witnessed the Employee’s Injury

Where a highway construction worker, who had completed a strenuous shift of work on a hot summer day, lost consciousness, and fell to the ground in the presence of his...

Employer Not Prejudiced by Lack of Formal Notice When Supervisor Witnessed the Employee’s Injury Employer Not Prejudiced by Lack of Formal Notice When Supervisor Witnessed the Employee’s Injury
Apr 5, 2017

New York: Nurse’s Stress Claim Tied to Bona Fide Personnel Decision is Not Compensable

Where a registered nurse claimed that she sustained work-related injuries consisting of insomnia, depression, post traumatic stress disorder, and severe social phobia when she was wrongfully terminated, reinstated, and then...

New York: Nurse’s Stress Claim Tied to Bona Fide Personnel Decision is Not Compensable New York: Nurse’s Stress Claim Tied to Bona Fide Personnel Decision is Not Compensable
Apr 4, 2017

New York Deputy Sheriff’s Fatal Heart Attack at Home is Not Compensable

Acknowledging that N.Y. Work. Comp. Law § 21 provides a presumption of compensability where the decedent’s initial injury occurs while he or she at work, a New York appellate court...

New York Deputy Sheriff’s Fatal Heart Attack at Home is Not Compensable New York Deputy Sheriff’s Fatal Heart Attack at Home is Not Compensable
Mar 29, 2017

Arkansas Opt-Out Bill: The Devil’s in the Details

Only There Aren’t any Details—at Least Not Yet Lately, I’ve seen a number of news items indicating that the Arkansas Legislature is considering an opt-out arrangement for its workers’ compensation...

Arkansas Opt-Out Bill: The Devil’s in the Details Arkansas Opt-Out Bill: The Devil’s in the Details
Mar 15, 2017

Employer-Provided Motel Room Insufficient to Transform Georgia Worker into Traveling Employee

Reiterating that Georgia Superior Courts are required to give appropriate deference to the factual findings of the Appellate Division of the Board of Workers’ Compensation, the Court of Appeals of...

Employer-Provided Motel Room Insufficient to Transform Georgia Worker into Traveling Employee Employer-Provided Motel Room Insufficient to Transform Georgia Worker into Traveling Employee
Mar 14, 2017

Worker’s Fall Was Not Idiopathic, in Spite of Opinion Offered by IME

In an unpublished decision, an Arizona appellate court found that the evidence in the record supported an ALJ’s award of workers’ compensation benefits to an office worker who sustained a...

Worker’s Fall Was Not Idiopathic, in Spite of Opinion Offered by IME Worker’s Fall Was Not Idiopathic, in Spite of Opinion Offered by IME
Mar 13, 2017

Airport Luggage Transport Driver Recovers Under Personal Comfort Doctrine

A Pittsburgh International Airport airport employee, whose job consisted of driving a luggage transport “tug,” and who sustained serious injuries when she flipped her tug as she traveled to one...

Airport Luggage Transport Driver Recovers Under Personal Comfort Doctrine Airport Luggage Transport Driver Recovers Under Personal Comfort Doctrine
Mar 13, 2017

“Fore”: Country Club Locker Room Attendant Struck in Groin by Golf Club Shaft May Sue Co-Employee

A locker room attendant at a Queensbury country club, who had his left testicle surgically removed following a bizarre incident in which the attendant was struck in the groin by...

“Fore”: Country Club Locker Room Attendant Struck in Groin by Golf Club Shaft May Sue Co-Employee “Fore”: Country Club Locker Room Attendant Struck in Groin by Golf Club Shaft May Sue Co-Employee
Mar 9, 2017

S.C. Supreme Court Says Return to Work Insufficient to Rebut Presumption of PTD Where Impairment to Back is Greater Than 50 Percent

Yesterday, in a divided decision, the Supreme Court of South Carolina, overruling an earlier decision of the state’s Court of Appeals, held that evidence of subsequent employment is insufficient by...

S.C. Supreme Court Says Return to Work Insufficient to Rebut Presumption of PTD Where Impairment to Back is Greater Than 50 Percent S.C. Supreme Court Says Return to Work Insufficient to Rebut Presumption of PTD Where Impairment to Back is Greater Than 50 Percent
Mar 2, 2017

Virginia Employer Proves Employee Was Intoxicated, But Still Loses Case

The Court of Appeals of Virginia recently reiterated that in order to defeat a claim for workers’ compensation benefits, it is not enough to show that an employee was intoxicated...

Virginia Employer Proves Employee Was Intoxicated, But Still Loses Case Virginia Employer Proves Employee Was Intoxicated, But Still Loses Case
Mar 1, 2017

$841,200 Fine Against Small Colorado Employer Was Unconstitutionally Excessive

While upholding the facial constitutionality of Colo. Rev. Stat. § 8–43–409, which provides for the imposition of fines against certain employers that fail to maintain workers’ compensation insurance, a Colorado...

$841,200 Fine Against Small Colorado Employer Was Unconstitutionally Excessive $841,200 Fine Against Small Colorado Employer Was Unconstitutionally Excessive
Mar 1, 2017

Georgia Supreme Court Clarifies “Willful Misconduct” Doctrine

Reversing a decision of the state’s Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court of Georgia, in Telecom v. Burdette, 2017 Ga. LEXIS 103 (Feb. 27, 2017), held that while the mere...

Georgia Supreme Court Clarifies “Willful Misconduct” Doctrine Georgia Supreme Court Clarifies “Willful Misconduct” Doctrine

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