Workers’ Comp Remedy For Mad-Cow Disease

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
07/29/2011

by Kelly C. Lovett

Workers’ compensation provides a valuable benefit to employers as the sole remedy for employees injured on the job.  As a result, employee lawsuits against employers for job-related injuries or illnesses usually are dismissed as soon as they are filed.  Occasionally, an employee will sue under a narrow exception to the workers’ compensation laws.  This was the case in the District of Columbia where a lab employee brought personal injury claims against his employer, a contractor to the Naval Research Laboratory, for intentional exposure to mad-cow disease.  The employee claimed that a lab experiment went awry, releasing infected tissue into the air.  As a result, the employee claimed he was exposed to a fatal disease that can incubate for years before showing symptoms.  The employee argued that his case fell within an exception to the DC workers’ compensation law because his employer intentionally targeted him for exposure to mad-cow disease.  Recognizing the absurdity of this claim, the District of Columbia court dismissed the employee’s lawsuit, finding that workers’ compensation was his only remedy for the remotely possible exposure to mad-cow disease.  Doe v. United States, No. 10-0148 (D.D.C. July 15, 2011).

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