Stop-and-Chat Fall Not Employment Risk

A Virginia woman has been denied her claim for benefits arising from a fall that occurred as she was walking down a hallway and turned to talk to a co-worker.
Mary Pat O’Brien testified that while walking on the premises of Northern Virginia Community College, she turned and her right “foot got stuck” and she “[fell] out of [her] left shoe,” just before falling backwards.
In determining whether an injury arises out of employment, “Virginia employs the actual risk test” the state’s Workers’ Compensation Commission said.
Under this test, an injury is considered to have arisen out of the employment “if the manner in which the employer requires the work to be performed is causally related to the resulting injury.” For “an injury to qualify as arising out of … the employment, this court has consistently held that ‘[a] “critical link” must exist between the conditions of the workplace and the injury[.]’”
The commission found that her fall “was not caused by [her] employment but rather presented an equal risk to any person walking inattentively.”
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A new New York state measure to establish a captive insurance program for commuter vans, black cars, ambulettes and paratransit vehicles, small school buses, and charter buses, and accessible vehicles is headed to Gov. Kathleen Hochul for signing.
The amendment to the state’s insurance law covers vehicles that are engaged in the business of carrying or transporting eight to 24 passengers for hire.
According to the state Senate, the purpose of this legislation is to provide for-hire vehicle operators the option for a parent insurance company to provide risk mitigation services in underwriting to reduce insurance rates for policyholders that experience excessive insurance costs in the Empire state.
Due to New York state insurance costs exceeding $40,000-55,000/year per driver/van under this policy, many drivers use New Jersey, Connecticut or other out-of-state plates to operate in New York City.
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The rise in the number of employees under the age of 18 heightens the need for employers and insurers to understand how to best manages workers’ compensation claims for those younger workers, writes Melody Ellis, an attorney with Atlanta law firm Drew Eckl & Farnham, LLP.
In a blog post, she highlighted that although minor employees are entitled to the same benefits as adult employees, there’s a significant difference in the way those benefits are paid and how claims are settled in Georgia.
“Generally, the only person capable of representing a minor entitled to workers’ compensation benefits is a conservator duly appointed and qualified by a probate court or some other court of competent jurisdiction,” Ellis wrote.
“This means that indemnity benefits should not be paid directly to a minor employee; rather, they must be paid to a conservator who will hold and use the funds for the benefit of the minor employee.”
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