In New York, if an employee is injured while engaged in a work-related conversation with his manager, he is likely to establish the requisite nexus between his work and the injury to trigger coverage.
Case name: My Suit Made To Measure, 111 NYWCLR 53 (N.Y W.C.B., Full Board 2011).
Ruling: Upon mandatory review, the New York Workers’ Compensation Board held that a tailor’s injuries, sustained when he swallowed a chicken bone while talking with a manager, arose out of and in the course of his employment.
What it means: In New York, if an employee is injured while engaged in a work-related conversation with his manager, he is likely to establish the requisite nexus between his work and the injury to trigger coverage.
Summary: The New York Workers’ Compensation Board held that a tailor’s injuries, sustained when he swallowed a chicken bone while talking with a manager, arose out of and in the course of his employment. The tailor testified that he was eating lunch at his desk during his unpaid lunch break when the manager asked if the tailor could help him find a toothbrush to remove a stain from a garment. While talking with the manager, the tailor swallowed the chicken bone. The next day, he went to the hospital and eventually had surgery to remove the bone and repair a perforation in his stomach. The board found that the work-related conversation the tailor was engaged in with the manager when the incident occurred provided a sufficient nexus to the claimant’s work to find that the injury arose out of and in the course of employment.
