Tennessee Widow Gets Higher Worker’s Compensation Benefits By Moving To North Carolina
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A Tennessee woman whose husband was killed while driving in North Carolina now receives an extra one hundred ten dollars ($110) per week in worker’s compensation benefits since she moved to North Carolina.
This is because North Carolina has higher worker’s compensation death benefits than Tennessee.
The North Carolina Industrial Commission allowed these additional benefits to the widow even though there is no specific North Carolina statue or case dealing with the issue. The Industrial Commission relied upon a 1980 United States Supreme Court decision which said that increasing another state’s worker’s compensation award was not precluded by the Federal Constitution.
The law in North Carolina clearly allows the claimant with North Carolina connections to get supplemental benefits when they are injured in another state. However, prior to this case, there was no specific authorization to allow a resident of another state to obtain increased benefits as a result of injuries which occur in North Carolina. The case Horne vs. Builders Transportation Company allowed the widow and her children to collect a total of four hundred sixty-six dollars ($466.00) per week under North Carolina’s worker’s compensation law even though they have been receiving three hundred fifty-five dollars and ninety-seven cents ($355.97) per week under Tennessee law.
All of the surrounding states have lower compensation benefits than we have in North Carolina.
The lesson this case teaches is that whenever more than one state has any ties or a relationship with an accident or with the parties involved in an accident it is beneficial to consult with lawyers in each state to determine the most beneficial action to take and to help decide in which state an action should be brought.