Arkansas: Commission, Not Trial Court, Must Determine if Claim is Barred by Exclusive Remedy Provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Act

Based upon its “vast expertise” in determining whether an injury is covered by the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Act, the state’s Workers Compensation Commission—not the state’s trial courts—have exclusive jurisdiction to determine whether the Act applies to any particular case. Accordingly, where a convenience store worker alleged that she had been sexually assaulted by the store manager while the two were at work, and where she alleged that she suffered both physical and mental injuries as a result of the incident, the trial court was without jurisdiction to move forward with her tort claim of negligent supervision; the exclusive remedy issue must first be determined by the Commission. Stressing that the issue was one of “jurisdiction to determine jurisdiction,” rather than “jurisdiction to hear the merits of the case,” the appellate court concluded that the Commission had exclusive jurisdiction to determine the applicability of the Act. The court also noted that while mental injuries are ordinarily excluded from coverage under the Act, unless “caused by a physical injury,” there was an exception in cases where the victim was a “victim of a crime of violence.” These issues needed to be addressed by the Commission.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Truman Arnold Cos. v. Miller County Circuit Ct., 2017 Ark. 94 (Mar. 16, 2017)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 56.03.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law