7-10-12; Our Federal Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a decision which in essence has determined “seasonal affective disorder” is compensable under the Americans with Disabilities Act

In our view and with respect to the members of the Court, this decision continues a disturbing trend in which U.S. courts continue to find nearly every personal malady in some way compensable. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), also known as winter depression, winter blues, summer depression, summer blues, or seasonal depression, is a mood disorder in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year experience depressive symptoms in the winter or summer, spring or autumn year after year.

In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), SAD is not a unique mood disorder, but is a specifier of major depression. Although experts were initially skeptical, this condition is now recognized as a common mental disorder. Obviously, there are folks in Wisconsin who don’t agree with that diagnosis.

In Ekstrand v. School District of Somerset, No. 11-1949 (issued June 26, 2012), the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the jury’s verdict in favor of Plaintiff in an action under the Americans with Disabilities Act alleging Defendant School District failed to accommodate plaintiff-teacher’s disability by denying her request to switch to classroom that had an exterior window to alleviate Plaintiff’s symptoms of seasonal affective disorder.

The Plaintiff-teacher sued the School District of Somerset, Wisconsin alleging the district failed to accommodate her alleged SAD disability in violation of the statute. The School District moved for summary judgment, which was granted by the Federal District Court. Summary judgment was reversed by the Federal Appellate Court in part, ruling there was a triable issue of fact as whether Plaintiff was a qualified individual with a disability within the meaning of the ADA and to whether the school district was aware of the disability.

At trial, while the Defendant-school district pointed to certain evidence at trial that supported its claim Plaintiff was not a qualified individual with disability and the decision-maker was unaware of Plaintiff’s disability, the Court held the jury was free to credit contrary testimony of Plaintiff and her expert witness, who indicated Plaintiff could return to her classroom during relevant time frames, and the decision-maker was aware of her alleged disability.

The Appeals Court ruled Plaintiff had a burden at trial to show

(1) She was a qualified individual with a disability;

(2) The school district was aware of her disability; and

(3) The school district failed to reasonably accommodate that disability.

The Court held there was sufficient evidence for the jury to conclude Plaintiff did meet that burden. The evidence included her testimony versus the school superintendent and the testimony of her treating doctor.

This case illustrates yet again the importance of responding to complaints of individuals alleging the need for reasonable accommodation. In the instant matter it appears Plaintiff made numerous requests for accommodation to the principal/decision-maker directly, including a letter from her treating doctor which was virtually ignored for nearly a year. The school district tried to attack the sufficiency of the evidence presented, however; it would appear a much stronger tactic to deny the claim would have been to present expert/scientific evidence to rebut the claims. Any effort to later defend or investigate the claim was hampered by the Defendant’s failure to react to the complaints in the first place.

The Federal Appellate Courts have shown us in recent years they will lean to Plaintiffs in these types of actions. It is critically important to respond expeditiously to investigate and move forward on accommodation or other action deemed appropriate. The decision to completely ignore ADA complaints, even with questionable merit, is perilous.

James F. Egan, J.D. researched and wrote this important article. Please do not hesitate to contact Jim directly via email to jegan@keefe-law.com.

7-10-12; Ramp Up Your Accident/Incident Reporting Protocols!

We truly feel this is one of the most important things U.S. risk managers/claims handlers have to get on board with. Some risk managers look at the 45-day rule in the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act and think that concept sets some sort of personnel rule for your organization in reporting accidental injuries. We feel the opposite should apply—you need to institute protocols to get your troops reporting safety problems, accidents and property damage much, much faster!

The 45-day rule applies only when determining whether workers’ comp benefits may be due—you can and should “ramp-up” your accident/incident reporting requirements to whatever suits your business needs. It is possible for a late-reported accident to be ruled compensable but that certainly doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do more to get the news of an event and start/complete your investigation much, much more rapidly in the new world of hyper-fast communications.

When we say rapid or “ramped-up” accident/incident reporting protocols, we currently have

·         One major national client that requires accident/incident reporting on a same-day basis from all their workers—employees who don’t report accidents involving injuries or incidents involving property damage on a same-shift basis are terminated. This is the most aggressive of all personnel situations. This situation hasn’t resulted in litigation to date. It remains effective because their unions have signed up for the urgency of same-day reporting and support the company in protecting corporate assets, maintaining a safe workplace and helping compliant workers keep their jobs. The unions tell their members of the accident reporting rules constantly and urge them to follow the rules in the best interests of all parties on both sides. Signs and placards on accident/incident reporting are posted throughout the work environment. Wallet/purse cards are provided to all workers to give phone/fax/text and email outlets to allow rapid contact, investigation and full reports.

·         Another client that provides their workers telemetry or wrist-radios to allow instantaneous reporting of any accident or incident. There are hundreds of new devices available for workers to report accidents/incidents instantaneously. If this company’s workers don’t report something on an as-known basis, they aren’t fired but they are warned and continued failures to timely report following oral and written warnings will lead to termination. Please note almost everyone in the U.S. workplace now has “telemetry” to the extent most workers have cell phones and the ability to talk, email or text messages.

The worst “non-accident-reporting” situation or the inverse of exigent accident/incident reporting is the goofy State of Illinois work comp system for our state workers. This year, Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a report that is still on the web which says state workers vaguely report a “problem” or work accident/exposure but then won’t fill out accident reporting forms or let their supervisors know what the problem might be. Days, months or years later, an Application is filed and claimant’s counsel is ready to proceed to hearing on a claim the State knows virtually nothing about. The hapless Illinois state claims handlers and administrators are then told what the accident or work-related problem might have been by claimants’ counsels. The claims handlers are left to try to rebuild any defense evidence to allow them to protect/defend the taxpayers’ money in the newly “reported” claim. If you aren’t sure, that is one reason why our State is paying hundreds of millions in workers’ comp benefits each year. We consider this a model for precisely what U.S. risk managers should not do. We strongly urge Governor Quinn and all state officials to stop allowing such shenanigans and get accident/incident reporting rules into place asap. We are happy to help/consult at no charge—the State simply has to have the guts and brains to start doing it.

The State of Illinois’ problems also highlight another aspect of our advice to everyone—don’t allow for vague responses or non-compliance with full accident/incident reporting. Institute policies requiring total cooperation, as if people’s lives depended on it—because they may! Have your accident/incident reporting policies include full compliance with two, three or four-level reporting. Level one is a complete and thorough hand-written or recorded statement of the employee. Level two is a hand-written or recorded statement of the employee with supervisor review. Level three is statements from the worker, the supervisor and management to include claims handlers. Level four is all of level three above along with a safety committee review. If you want our webcam questions to assist in your investigation, send a reply.

Please note we aren’t limiting this concept to simply reporting of work-related accidents involving injuries. We are sure the claimant attorneys among our readers think our only goal is to punish anyone who is injured at work. That isn’t the point of this article and we think that is short-sighted. It has always been our advice to our clients and readers the most valuable asset and potentially the most expensive “equipment” on any job site are the humans. When someone is injured at work, the cost can rapidly escalate into the six and seven-figure range. Rapid reporting and response to actual or possible injuries/exposures to humans in your work force should be of paramount importance.

However, any event or incident involving injuries to your workers, non-workers, property damage or other system breakdown should be included in your urgent accident/incident reporting protocols. Solid risk management should include ramped-up reporting of anything out of the ordinary, including near-misses. You need to have procedures that describe the steps to be taken when an employee, your property or anyone else’s property may be involved. Your line workers and supervisors must obtain the best information possible as soon as possible in the event of an employee accident, injury, property damage incident, or any other action which may result in a claim against your company.

The main question we keep getting asked is whether you will get sued for putting in protocols to require rapid accident/incident reporting and potentially terminate workers who don’t do what they are being asked to do. The answer is yes, you can be sued for literally anything. The bigger question is whether such a suit will remain viable following motions to dismiss. In our view, the rapid accident/incident reporting concept is a sound business practice. Despite the potential for litigation, it should still be carefully and wisely considered by risk managers who want to save money and make your workplace safer. If you need advice and counsel from veteran defense lawyers on any concept in ramping up your accident/incident reporting protocols, send a reply.

Please carefully document you aren’t disciplining or firing the worker for the fact of the injury or the value of the WC benefits you will still have to pay. The documentation should clearly indicate you have provided all workers accident/incident reporting training and they should know what is expected of them. Please also remember ramped-up accident/incident reporting allows you to preserve security/surveillance videotape of the event, call in the authorities if a third-party caused the injury/incident such as a criminal attack or a dog bite, allows you to rapidly address/prevent a dangerous or unsafe condition where others might suffer similar injuries and it also allows you to preserve evidence if a third party action arises from the event.

We appreciate your thoughts and comments. Please do not hesitate to post them on our award-winning blog.

7-2-12; “Repetitive Walking” FELA appellate denial now moving to the Supreme Court or finality.

We want our defense readers to continue to fight and aggressively defend repetitive walking or repetitive working claims wherever they arise.

In Huffman v. Union Pacific Railroad, Plaintiff Huffman worked for the railroad for nearly 40 years. He alleged “injuries” to his knee, diagnosed after retirement, were partly the result of the railroad’s negligence, in failing to train him on the proper way to walk on uneven surfaces or the safe method of getting on/off moving trains. Plaintiff claimed the repetitive physical demands of his work (and not his body mass index of 44.3) resulted in the cumulative trauma “injury” of knee osteoarthritis.

The jury found negligence, causation and awarded $606,000 in damages. The employer-defendant Union Pacific moved for a judgment as a matter of law, arguing there was insufficient evidence on causation, and also for a new trial, arguing the damages were excessive or for a remittitur. The Federal District Court denied both motions.

Union Pacific appealed, arguing a judgment as a matter of law should have been granted, because of the absence of evidence of causation, and the District Court erred in its instruction to the jury as to the necessary degree of causation. The Appellate Court found the record contained no expert testimony to support a link between Huffman's performance of his work duties in less than ergonomically optimal ways — a result of the railroad's negligence — and the specific knee problem he suffers, which is osteoarthritis.

The Federal Appellate Court went on to discusses the necessity of expert testimony in FELA claims. While the court acknowledged the rule in the First Circuit, that expert testimony is not needed if the connection between the negligence and the injury is fairly self-evident, it also note the causes of Plaintiff’s osteoarthritis were not of that clarity. Evidence that the injury resulted from work conditions is insufficient and the Court ruled it had to result from negligence. The Court also ruled it was necessary ergonomic risk factors be tied to osteoarthritis of the knees.

The Appellate Court found no evidence was presented the osteoarthritis Plaintiff Huffman had was a kind of musculoskeletal disorder that could occur if a railroad negligently failed to inform its trainmen how to perform their tasks. Plaintiff only presented evidence of the kind of work trainmen did and asserted if such duties were not performed properly, they could increase the chances of musculoskeletal disorders. However, the court found the term “musculoskeletal disorder” too broad a category, and the evidence introduced too general, for jurors to have a basis on which to infer even the minimal degree of causation required.

The Federal Appellate Court reversed the judgment and the case was remanded for entry of a judgment in favor of Union Pacific. A request by Plaintiff for an en banc hearing by the entire 5th District Appellate panel was just denied. At present, Plaintiff will have to ask for the U.S. Supreme Court to hear any further appeal of the claim will die.

Although this is a FELA or railroad worker case, it is highly relevant to similar Jones Act claims, as the Jones Act incorporates FELA by reference. Please also note if any worker who works for a company can retire and then sue and get $606,000 for doing their job in a normal fashion without any acute trauma, safety failure or other concern, things in this country are going to be wildly expensive.

We appreciate your thoughts and comments. Please do not hesitate to post them on our award-winning blog.