Most employers are aware that while workers’ compensation is typically a “no-fault” insurance wherein workers can get benefits even if their own negligence or mistake caused their injuries. However, there are exceptions to this rule. They include instances when workers are engaged in “horseplay,” or someone intentionally harms themselves or someone else.
Another common exception is when an employee is injured because they were under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. However, even a worker injured while they were impaired by substances that they shouldn’t be using at work could still potentially obtain workers’ comp benefits if their impairment may not have caused their injury.
A fall from a ladder may have multiple causes
In a case last year, a New York appeals court upheld an earlier ruling by the New York Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) that an employee was entitled to workers’ comp benefits for the injuries he suffered after falling from a ladder even though he was drunk at the time of his fall.
While the man’s employer argued that his intoxication at the time of his accident made him ineligible for benefits, both the WCB and the appeals court determined that other safety issues contributed to his fall. These included, according to the WCB, “the absence of another employee holding the ladder, a simple misjudgment of footing, the lack of a safety railing on an elevated surface or the inherent risk of working at height.” It determined, and the appeals court agreed, that the employer failed to prove that the fall wouldn’t have occurred had the employee not been intoxicated.
Ladder falls are among the most common causes of serious workplace injuries. Those who are on ladders – especially high ones – as a regular part of their job are at risk of suffering serious injuries if appropriate safety measures aren’t in place.
New York businesses certainly have the right to argue that an employee’s workplace injury doesn’t qualify for workers’ compensation if they were under the influence at the time that they were harmed. It’s crucial to understand, however, that they need to meet the “heavy burden,” as the WCB called it, of providing convincing evidence that the employee’s impairment was the only reason it occurred and that no other issues could have contributed to it. Having experienced legal guidance can help those involved make that case.