What Do You Think?
Workers’ compensation covers accidents at work. If an employee intentionally injures himself, it’s not an accident. But what if an employee’s injury happened because he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing? A West Virginia court addressed whether the resulting injury could be considered self-inflicted.
The route driver in that case clocked into work, built his trip log for the day and loaded his truck. Realizing he forgot his wallet, he ran to his own vehicle. He was in a hurry because his bonus depended on how fast he worked. On the way back, he said, his foot slipped on a piece of broken concrete. He fell, struck the steel storage racks that held pallets, and fell on the concrete. He injured his head, neck, and chest.
The administrator denied the claim on the basis of a surveillance video. It believed the video showed the claim was self-inflicted. In addition, its expert, a scientist involved in human factors issues, concluded the footage showed the claimant was being inattentive. While the pavement was uneven, he could have easily navigated it had he been paying reasonable attention. Further, his steps following the tripping, the expert said, were not consistent with the literature regarding “fall recovery.”
The Board reversed the claim administrator’s order. The employer appealed. It appeared to believe the incident was more of a Buster Keaton impression gone wrong than a workplace accident. It pointed to the video and its expert’s opinion as evidence that the claimant faked tripping and threw himself into the wall.
To establish compensability in West Virginia, a claimant must show (1) a personal injury, (2) received in the course of employment, and (3) resulting from that employment. Self-inflicted injuries are not compensable.
Did the driver’s inattention bar him from obtaining benefits?
A. Yes. It wasn’t the employer’s fault that he hurt himself. If he had been paying attention, he never would have fallen and been injured.
B. No. The state’s workers’ compensation act doesn’t bar recovery simply because an injury results from the claimant’s negligence.
If you selected B, you agreed with the court in Airgas Mid-America v. Lowe, No. 25-ICA-354. (W.V. Ct. App. 02/27/26), which held that even if the claimant was spacing out when he fell, that didn’t render his injuries “self-inflicted.”
The video showed him catching his food, falling onto the rack of pellets and then to the concrete. That video matched the claimant’s description of the incident, and aligned with the reported injuries.
Perhaps the claimant was being inattentive at the time. Perhaps, as the employer’s expert suggested, he was not attending to his environment and path. However, even if that were true, it would not be enough to demonstrate that he intentionally injured himself. West Virginia Workers’ Compensation is a no-fault system, after all. A claimant doesn’t have to show he was performing perfectly in order to obtain benefits.
Because the employer failed to establish that the Board’s decision was clearly wrong, the court affirmed the compensability of the claim.
