Employee Fired for Misconduct Still due to Receive Workers Compensation Benefits
April 10, 2017
An Indiana appeals court has ruled that an employee who injured his back at work is still entitled to workers compensation temporary total disability benefits despite the fact that he was later fired for misconduct. The case is Masterbrand Cabinets v. Waid, No. 93A02-1609-EX-2228, 2017 WL 1179615 (Ind. Ct. App. Mar. 30, 2017).
This case appeared in the Indiana court after the Indiana Workers' Compensation Board awarded temporary total disability benefits to Waid, and the employer disagreed with that ruling. Masterbrand, the employer, raised one issue at this trial; whether or not the Board properly awarded the temporary total disability (TTD) benefits to Waid following an on-the-job injury and a termination of his position due to employee misconduct.
Waid was hired in 2013; his job at the time involved doing physical labor. During employment Waid was “coached” several times for evident anger issues and workplace conduct. One year after he was hired, Waid slipped while working and injured his back. He promptly notified his supervisor of the injury but failed to see a doctor for more than two weeks after the incident, assuming that medical care was not necessary. When Waid saw the doctor, the doctor requested medical records related to prior back problems and returned Waid to full duty at work, a recommendation with which Waid disagreed. Regardless, Waid returned to work.
After returning to work for a full day, Waid was unable to get out of bed the next day due to severe back pain. The next day Waid returned to work and got into a verbal altercation with his supervisor about his injury and lack of work restrictions. Waid threw the ice pack he was holding, nearly striking another employee, and cursed at his supervisor during the altercation.
Wade was suspended by Masterbrand, and his employment was later terminated. Waid continued to see the doctor, who ordered physical therapy but removed work restrictions. Waid was released from treatment three months after the accident after the doctor found maximum medical improvement. Waid procured an independent medical examination, which found that he likely had exacerbated a pre-existing back condition and had suffered a disc injury that was probably 10-20 percent due to his work injury. The Board determined that he was unable to perform work of the same kind he was performing when he was injured and stated that Waid was due TTD benefits.
Masterbrand contends that Waid is not entitled to TTD benefits because his employment was terminated due to misconduct. The company cited Indiana's workers compensation statute, which says that termination of TTD benefits is allowed if an employee is unable or unavailable to work for reasons other than the workplace injury.
The Board found, and the court agreed, that although he was terminated from his employment, the relevant question is whether his inability to work was related to the workplace injury, and that Waid's inability to work was indeed related to his injury. The court ultimately decided that the termination for misconduct did not prevent him from receiving TTD benefits as a result of his on-the-job injury.
Editor's Note: In workers compensation, as in most other lines of insurance, any doubts in the application of the workers compensation statutes must be resolved in favor of the employee. Daugherty v. Indus. Contracting & Erecting, 802 N.E.2d 912 (Ind. 2004). Despite his misconduct after his injury occurred, Waid was still prevented from working due to an injury that occurred in the workplace. Even if Waid had not gotten into an altercation with his boss after the injury, the injury would have prevented him from working. This ruling may have been different if Waid had been injured while involved in a workplace altercation with his supervisor or if Waid had been injured directly after a workplace altercation with his superior that would have resulted in his employment termination despite the injury.