Worker’s Request to Extend Worker’s Compensation Benefits Was Denied Due to Partying Pictures Posted on Facebook
You’d think workers would know better than to post pictures of themselves partying on Facebook when they are petitioning for more workers’ comp (WC) benefits. But an Arkansas WC recipient looked like he was in “no pain” in party pictures posted on social media—just when he was asking for more benefits because of continued “excruciating pain.”
According to media reports, the worker had been injured severely enough to put him on total disability benefits for 1 year after a refrigerator fell on him in a warehouse, resulting in a hernia and injury to his lower body requiring him to have several surgeries.
The worker had applied to the Arkansas Compensation Commissions for additional WC benefits when party photos of him appeared on social media. He was denied the extended benefits and had his lawyer appeal.
His attorney asked the appeals court to ban the photos from the proceedings because they had nothing to do with his medical condition (well, he was only shown picking up beer cans and bottles) and were “irrelevant, immaterial, and prejudicial.”
However, according to ABC News, the Arkansas Court of Appeals judge denied the benefits and stated that there was “no abuse of discretion in the allowance of photographs,” and that the worker “contended that he was in excruciating pain, but these pictures show him drinking and partying.”
“Certainly these pictures could have a bearing on [the worker’s] credibility, albeit a negative effect that [he] might not wish to be demonstrated to the ALJ [administrative law judge] or the Commission,” said the appeals court judge, stating the obvious.
Guess the worker won’t be a “friend” of the court anytime soon
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