New York: Surveillance Video Dooms Worker's "Attack of the Elevator Doors" Claim

Noting that the New York Workers’ Compensation Board has broad authority to resolve factual issues based on credibility of witnesses, a state appellate court affirmed the denial of benefits to a state hearing officer who claimed she was seriously injured when elevator doors closed abruptly on her. The hearing officer, who contended she was forced to miss four months of work in order to recover from her injuries, analogized the incident to being squeezed on each side “like a jelly donut.” Surveillance video inside the elevator told another story. It revealed that, as the officer entered the elevator, a door bumped her right side as it was closing but did not knock her off balance or impede her entry. In fact, she appeared unfazed as she remained on the elevator using her cell phone until she departed at her destination.

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 Matter of Williams v. New York State Office of Temporary Disability & Assistance, 2018 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1088 (3rd Dept. Feb. 15, 2018)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 130.05.

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