Workers' Compensation Awarded When Brother Kills Brother
Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 645
Tags:
None
The North Carolina Industrial Commission has awarded workers' compensation death benefits to the family of a deceased worker who was shot and killed by his brother. The shooting occurred at a job site where the two men worked together for a logging company.
In awarding benefits to the family, the Industrial Commission held that the killing was work-related since it was motivated by a work based dispute and not personal issues.
There was one dissent on the three person panel of the Industrial Commission. The dissenting member wrote that: "The deceased employee and his brother were not even engaged in any activity of their employment when the deceased was shot." Testimony from other employees shows that the deceased employee and his brother were constantly at odds and argued frequently. Further, the dissenting member wrote that: "After the initial verbal altercation, it was the deceased who aggressively approached his brother and assumed a fighting position."
This case is an interesting application of a law that requires that an injury or death must be "work related" in order for workers' compensation benefits to be payable. Even if death or injury occurs at the workplace, workers' compensation benefits will not be available unless the injury or death has some relationship to the employment. In the context of injury or death resulting from an assault at work, the assault must have some relationship to the employment.
In this case, Forbes v. Kenneth L. Goodson Logging, Inc., the Industrial Commission found that: "The argument...that led to descendant's death was in part motivated by [his brother's] feelings regarding work having been performed in his absence on the proceeding Saturday."
Even though there was evidence of past animosity between the two brothers, the Industrial Commission felt that the evidence of the recent workplace issues between them were stronger and were the motivating factor that led to the killing.
The argument between the two brothers started when comments were made about the fact that one of the brothers was not allowed to work on a Saturday because the foreman was concerned about his drinking and the fact that he had "caused some trouble" at the worksite. The two men began pushing and shoving each other and one of them pulled a pistol out of his pocket and shot the other, striking him in the face.
This bazaar case is an example of the intricate and varied issues that can arise in a workers' compensation case.
There have been other cases of assaults occurring at a workplace when no workers' compensation benefits were awarded.
For more information on this subject matter, please refer to the section on Workers Compensation.