Archive for category: Duncan Law Blog

Like many areas in the law, it depends.  If the heart attack occurred during your normal work activities, usually the heart attack injury is not compensable under North Carolina workers’ compensation laws.  For the injury to be compensable, the worker must show the heart attack was caused by some unusual or unexpected event and was in the course and scope of employment.

A good example would be an administrative assistant, who had a “desk job,” was on the first floor of a fifteen-story building.  Due to a power outage, the elevators were temporarily not working.  The worker’s supervisor told the worker to quickly go to the twelfth floor, via the stairs, to pick up some important documents. As the worker was going up the stairs she began to breath hard and over exerted herself.  As the worker reached the tenth floor, she began to have chest pain and suffered a heart attack.  This is a compensable act because this was not the normal routine of the administrative assistant to run up twelve flights of stairs.  Her normal job was to have a sedimentary job at her desk. She suffered a heart attack due to this “unusual event” of her running up ten flights of stairs. This injury should be covered under the workers compensation laws.

What if the employer knew the administrative assistant had a preexisting heart condition?  This would be irrelevant. The heart attack would still be compensable because the employer “takes the employee as they find them.”

What if a convenience store employee had a heart attack as an armed robber came into the store with a shotgun and pointed the shotgun at the clerk?  This would probably be compensable injury because it is not the “normal duties” of a convenience store clerk to have a shotgun pointed at them.

What if a store clerk was checking out a customer and the clerk had a heart attack?  Would this be compensable under the workers compensation laws?  Probably not, because the clerk was doing his “normal and customary duties ” when he suffered the heart attack.  Nothing out of the ordinary caused the clerk to have the heart attack.

The bottom line is, there must be some act or accident outside of the normal course of employment that caused the heart attack. There must be a causal connection between this act and the resulting heart attack. If you are looking for a Charlotte workers’ compensation attorney or Greensboro workers’ compensation lawyer be sure to contact us today.

Depression caused by an accident or incident on the job is usually compensable.  However, there must be a medical doctor or a licensed psychologist opinion that the depression was caused by the incident or accident.  You cannot claim you feel depressed without a professional opinion substantiating the claim of clinical depression.

For example, a new healthcare worker was asked to assist rescue workers with the recovery of bodies of a major airplane crash.  Several children on the plane were killed and their bodies were badly damaged. The healthcare worker had children the same age as some of the plane crash victims.  The healthcare worker was severely depressed after the incident and needed psychological counseling.  This type of treatment is usually compensable.

If an employee was injured on the job and lost an arm, this, too, would cause depression for most persons.  The counseling needed by this person is usually compensable as part of their medical expenses.

Again the key factors are the depression must be work related and there must be a professional clinical diagnosis of depression. This depression must be related to and caused by the employment of the person (employee).

If you think you may be suffering from depression from an incident that occurred while you were working, you should speak first with a health care professional. After you have received proper care, you should then speak with a workers’ compensation attorney to determine if the depression may be compensable under workers’ compensation laws.

Generally, injuries sustained going to and from work are not compensable as a workers’ compensation injury.  However, there are a few exceptions to this general rule. The following is a list of injuries that may be compensable under workers’ compensation.

First, if the injury occurred on the premises of the employer as the employee is arriving or leaving work, the injury may be compensable. A common example would be a person slipping on an icy spot as they step onto the employer’s parking lot as they arrive for work.

Next, if the employee is performing a “special errand” for the benefit of the employer.  For example, the employer may ask the employee to stop by a paper goods store to pick up a case of copy paper on his way home after the employee has “clocked out,” and the employee is injured in an accident before they get to the store, but after they leave the employer’s premises, the injury will probably be compensable.

Another example is when the employee leaves their home, but instead of going directly to work, the employee must go by and see a customer of the employer.  If an injury occurs driving directly to visit the customer, the injury is usually compensable.  In the alternative, if the employee is a salesperson and in route to visit a customer and the employee decides to stop by a bar and have a few drinks and falls and injures himself in the bar, this injury is usually not compensable. This is commonly known as a “frolic and detour”.

A final example of a compensable injury is when an employer is responsible for carrying the employee to and from work as part of the employment contract.  For example, the employer has agreed to pick up construction workers at their home and carry them to the construction site.  Along the way to the construction site, the employee is injured in an automobile accident, this injury is usually compensable.

The workers’ compensation rules surrounding injuries that occur going to or from work are complicated; you should speak with a workers’ compensation attorney regarding the specifics of your situation to determine whether you may be able to file a workers’ compensation claim due to your injuries.