Removal of Safety Guard Not 'Substantially Certain' to Cause Harm

An employer's deliberate act of dismantling safety features of a leather-stamping machine was not so substantially certain to result in injury as to exempt a worker who was injured by the machine from the exclusivity provisions of New Jersey's workers' compensation laws, a divided New York appellate court ruled. Case: Lebron v. SML Veteran Leather, No. 308490/08, 08/20/2013, published. Facts: Nelson Lebron worked for SML Veteran Leather. He suffered severe burns to his hand while using a hot leather-stamping machine. The accident occurred when a piece of leather beca...