Victory for maligned injured worker
It’s a classic case of no good deed goes unpunished.
A Bakersfield, Calif., school worker who hurt his shoulder while helping police capture a suspect at a nearby school had his workers' compensation claim rejected.
Why? A worker’s comp judge didn’t buy Robert Boyd’s story that he was trying to protect students when he was injured, even though Boyd’s supervisors at the school told him to watch out for suspicious people hanging around the school yard. Further, Boyd had been told he may be called upon to act in emergency situations to protect students.
The judge didn't outright accuse Boyd of workers' compensation fraud, but his ruling has the same effect. It's so unfortunate when legitimate workers' comp claims are denied, but more than that, such precedent makes it harder for other injured workers to get a fair hearing. It seems that these kinds of cases are quite often tried in public.
Fortunately in the California case, an appeals court saw things differently. In granting benefits, the court ruled there was no evidence Boyd was lying about his version of the events.