TX - Exclusivity Bars Lawsuit by Worker Fired After Fight Over PPE
07/23/2026 | 0
Workers' compensation is the exclusive remedy for the negligence claims of a worker who was fired after getting into a fight with a supervisor over personal protective equipment, a Texas appeals court ruled.
Separately, the court held that reporting the altercation and participating in the employer's investigation is not the sort of protected activity that gives rise to a retaliation claim under the state's Human Rights Act.
Francisco Garza was a hydroblast technician for USA DeBusk LLC who reported to different crew leaders as he was assigned to different jobsites. On the day in
Read More
A divided District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled that it lacked jurisdiction over a widow’s challenge to the denial of her request for an enhanced survivor benefit after the death of her husband, a police officer.
Case: Eckenrode v. District of Columbia Police and Firefighters Retirement and Relief Board, No. 20-AA-0759, 07/16/2026, published.
Facts: Mark Eckenrode served as a Metropolitan Police Department officer for more than 20 years.
In 2006, he injured his left knee while on duty. Eckenrode underwent two knee surgeries as a result of that injury.
After his left knee buckle
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania upheld an award of benefits to a worker struck by a car as she was jaywalking across a street to get food on her break.
Case: Giant Eagle Inc. v. Baker, No. 1684 C.D. 2024, 07/15/2026, published.
Facts: Tierra Baker worked for Giant Eagle Inc. as a pharmacy tech at a store in Pittsburgh’s Greenfield neighborhood.
On Aug. 30, 2021, Baker punched out and left her workplace to get food at a restaurant along Murray Avenue during one of her mandatory 15-minute breaks.
She was struck by a vehicle while trying to cross Murray Avenue directly in f
The Delaware Superior Court upheld a denial of benefits to a third-grade teacher who suffered a spinal stroke at work, leaving her paraplegic.
Case: Johnson v. Christiana School District, No. N25A-05-005 KMM, 07/16/2026, published.
Facts: Angela Johnson worked for Christiana School District as a third-grade teacher.
The School District conducts teacher performance evaluations twice a year, involving two classroom observations.
Johnson was told that Principal Rella Reynolds would be observing her classroom on Jan. 6, 2022. Reynolds had conducted prior observations of Johnson,
At a June 26 meeting of California’s Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation, daisyBill co-founder and CEO Catherine Montgomery detailed some of the serious administrative obstacles providers face when treating injured workers.
DaisyBill’s testimony left commissioners with “their jaws open,” in the words of CHSWC chair Nicholas Roxborough.
CHSWC recommends improvements to the workers’ comp system, reporting directly to the Department of Insurance and the governor. With hard evidence and verifiable data, w
A New York appellate court upheld a grant of summary judgment on a worker’s Labor Law claim and reinstated some of the indemnification claims by the defendants.
Case: Williams v. RXR Construction & Development LLC, No. 150936/18, 595067/19, 595834/19, 595173/21, 595554/21, 07/09/2026, published.
Facts: Erick Williams suffered injuries while working on a construction project when an unsecured stack of windows fell on him.
Procedural history: Williams filed suit against RXR SL Owner LLC and RXR Construction & Development LLC, asserting a claim for a violation of Labor Law S
The U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee narrowly passed a bill that would prohibit the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from adopting indoor and outdoor heat protection standards proposed in 2024.
The committee on Tuesday voted 18-15 to pass HR 6213, which would prohibit OSHA from adopting the heat protection standards proposed in the Federal Register in August 2024 or any other rules that are substantially similar.
Rules OSHA proposed would require employers to develop an injury and illness prevention plan to control heat hazards. Employers would be required to provide
The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill that would authorize the Department of Labor to stop payments to medical providers convicted of fraud involving the workers' compensation program for federal workers.
The House on Monday voted 396-0 to pass HR 8823.
The bill allows the Labor Department to terminate payments to providers convicted of fraud involving the Federal Employees' Compensation Act, similar state programs and all other federal health care programs.
Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Michigan, said in a statement that injured federal workers deserve timely care and s
Travelers Cos. reported that 37% of workplace injuries occurred during a worker's first year on the job and that first-year injuries made up roughly 34% of costs in a study of 1.2 million workers' compensation claims from 2021 to 2025.
Restaurants were most affected by the trend, with first-year injuries representing 51% of all claims in the sector during the study period. Travelers reports that 44% of construction injuries involved first-year workers, as did 39% of retail claims and 38% of claims in both the services and wholesale sectors. About 36% of claims in both the transportati
An employer's knowledge that a worker holds a second job is enough to establish concurrent employment for average weekly wage calculations, even if the worker is furloughed at the time, an Illinois appellate court ruled.
The fact that Kathleen Collins was furloughed from her other job and not earning wages at the time of her injury does not disturb the finding of concurrent employment.
Collins injured her wrist in October 2020 working for J-H Alliance, which does business as the UPS Store.
An arbitrator in September 2022 found her injury arose out of and in the course of employmen
A divided Vermont Supreme Court ruled that an injured courier was not entitled to additur or a new trial on his negligence claim against the owners of the property where he was hurt.
Case: Tiedemann v. Wheeler, No. 25-AP-322, 07/17/2026, published.
Facts: Justin Tiedemann worked as a courier for FedEx Express. On March 3, 2021, Tiedemann delivered a package to the home of Bernard and Catherine Wheeler.
Tiedemann had delivered packages to the Wheeler residence before and left the packages outside near a grill next to the garage.
On the day of the accident, Bernard Wheeler had cleared snow f
The Maryland Appellate Court ruled that a professional football player who was injured during an out-of-state practice three days after signing with the Washington Commanders was covered by Maryland’s workers’ compensation laws.
Case: In the Matter of Brooks, No. 549, 07/15/2026, unpublished.
Facts: Curtis Brooks played as a defensive tackle for the University of Cincinnati football team until 2021. He was selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the sixth of seven rounds of the 2022 National Football League draft.
He moved to the Tennessee Titans in January 2023, but was cut from
The Virginia Court of Appeals upheld an award of benefits to a survivor of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the Pentagon for her post-traumatic stress disorder.
Case: RAND Corp. v. Williams, No. 0269-25-2, 07/14/2026, published.
Facts: Traci Williams worked as a research assistant for the RAND Corp., and she was assigned to work at the Pentagon during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In the aftermath of the attacks, she immediately sought mental health treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
In October 2001, Williams filed a claim with the Virginia Workers’ Compens
A New York appellate court ruled that an insurance company could not substitute itself for a different carrier to challenge a decision by the Workers’ Compensation Board.
Case: Matter of Rivera v. Lettire Construction Corp., No. CV-24-1033, 07/09/2026, published.
Facts and procedural history: Pedro P. Minotta Rivera filed a claim for workers’ compensation benefits after he fell from a ladder while working for Lettire Construction Corp.
The Workers' Compensation Board indexed the claim against the Starr Indemnity & Liability Co., which denied the claim.
After an investig
The International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions and the American Association of Payers, Administrators, and Networks' Pharmacy Benefit Manager Council are holding a webinar Aug. 20 to discuss the impact of PBM legislation on workers' compensation systems.
The groups said "overly broad" PBM reform legislation is having an unintended consequence on workers' compensation, a system that is fundamentally different than group health.
The result is PBM measures are creating conflicting reimbursement rules that threaten injured workers' access to
Rand Corp. on Monday reported statistically significant increases in some guideline-concordant care that was exempted from prospective utilization review in the first 30 days of an injury, but the generally modest effects indicate that approval rates for early treatment requests in California were already above 90%.
In addition to recommending that the Legislature consider expanding the types of treatments that are exempt from prospective review beyond those included in SB 1160, researchers also recommended that the Department of Industrial Relations establish standardized data collection req
