High Court Clarifies Worker's Burden to Prove 'Definite Time and Place' of Injury

The Hawaii Supreme Court ruled last week that a worker's inability to show that her injury occurred at a "definite time and place" while she was at work was not fatal to her claim for service-connected disability retirement benefits. Although Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 88-79 expressly requires that a worker be able to prove the occurrence of an injury during "the actual performance of duty at some definite time and place," the court said Friday that Eden Panado was not required to pinpoint exactly when she hurt her back during an eight-hour shift involving the rep...