WORKER'S COMPENSATION:

                           How Do You Prove A Worker's Compensation Case?

                                                                                by

                                                                 Attorney Steve Olson

                 For additional information: link to Radosevich, Mozinski, Cashman & Olson LLP

Any injury which occurs in the workplace is covered by Wisconsin's Worker's Compensation Act, provided the workplace somehow contributed to the injury.  For example, if you are an office worker and are sitting at your desk having an ordinary day, however, suddenly have a heart attack, will you be covered?  Answer: probably not.  The injury (heart attack) happened in the work place, however, was not caused by the workplace.

There are three primary methods of connecting an injury to something caused by the workplace.  Those three methods are 1) the direct method; 2) occupational exposure; and 3) by acceleration, precipitation, and aggravation of an underlying condition.

The direct method is the most straightforward and normally there are no disputes.  If you work in a warehouse and a box falls from a shelf, landing on and breaking your leg, you will be covered under the Worker's Compensation Act, as a 'direct' injury.  Few disputes arise between injured workers and worker's compensation insurance companies if a direct injury has occurred.

Occupational exposure is another method of connecting an injury to the workplace, however, is more difficult.  Occupational-type injuries may be long-term exposure to chemicals which cause health problems.  Similarly, someone working in a secretarial position, may develop carpel tunnel syndrome from long term keyboarding, or other repetitive activity.  The liability problem which may arise, using the carpal tunnel example, is determining whether the injury occurred from repetitive motion at work or something the injured worker did on a daily basis at home or in their recreational pursuits. Medical testimony will have to resolve the dispute.  In many instances, testimony by the worker's doctor and the insurance company's hired doctor will be in dispute.  Ultimately, an Administrative Law Judge employed by the Worker's Compensation Division may have to decide which doctor's testimony is more believable, after hearing testimony from the injured worker and co-employees about the worker's normal job tasks.

The third method of proving a worker's compensation case is by showing that something in the workplace "aggravated, accelerated, and precipitated an underlying condition".  An example of this may be someone who has degenerative disc disease in their spine. Repeated lifting in the workplace may cause the spinal problem to become worse, however, the root cause of the problem was the worker's degenerative disc disease. How does Wisconsin resolve such a scenario?  The law states that if something in the workplace aggravates, accelerates, and precipitates an underlying problem into becoming worse than it would have without the workplace exposure, then Wisconsin's worker's compensation laws mandate coverage.  Using our original example, the person who has a heart attack at his desk, even that heart attack could be covered under worker's compensation if something in the workplace aggravated, accelerated, and precipitated the heart attack.  For example, if I'm a teller at a bank and an armed robbery occurs with the culprit pointing a hand gun at me, the stress of the incident may be the cause of my heart attack, allowing coverage under the Wisconsin Worker's Compensation Act.

             For additional information: link to Radosevich, Mozinski, Cashman & Olson LLP