| Black Lung Benefits Act - Defining "Totally Disabled Due to Pneumoconiosis" |
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| The Black Lung Benefits Act does not provide benefits for a partial disability. Rather, in order to recover under the Act, a miner must be totally disabled as a result of pneumoconiosis. The miner bears the burden of proof to demonstrate that he is "totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis," although this responsibility is somewhat tempered by certain presumptions.More... |
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| Cessation of Social Security Disability Benefits Based on Lack of Disability |
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| Social security disability benefits are paid only so long as the individual remains disabled. The Social Security Administration (SSA) will cease paying benefits if the individual can engage in substantial gainful activity. The Social Security Disability Reform Act of 1984 established conditions for the cessation of disability benefits based on a lack of disability, which include:More... |
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| Intoxication |
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| When an employee is injured outside the course of his employment, he is ineligible to receive workers' compensation benefits. When an employee becomes voluntarily intoxicated such that he cannot function or perform the tasks of his job, courts will consider him to have departed from the course of employment. Therefore, compensation for an injury incurred while the employee is so inebriated as to be incapable of performing his work will likely be denied. More... |
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| Employee's Failure to Obey Safety Rules as Statutory Defense |
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| When an employee claims workers' compensation benefits are due to him based on an injury that occurred on the job, many states allow an employer to defend itself by presenting evidence that the employee wilfully disobeyed the employer's prescribed safety rules or purposefully neglected to use a safety device. Although in rare cases the defense represents a complete bar to the employee's recovery of benefits, usually the employee's recovery is just subject to a reduction.More... |
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| Employee Susceptibility to Occupational Disease |
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| Every employee brings his own idiosyncrasies to his employment. This includes pre-existing weaknesses, hypersensitivities, and other susceptibilities that could impact the employee's health. The minority rule in workers' compensation coverage is that there is no recovery for an occupational disease where a pre-existing condition, such as asthma, contributed to the resulting disease. The minority states consider the disease to be the result of the employee's own innate susceptibility rather than to the peculiar conditions of his employment.More... |
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