Case name:
Reynolds v. Excel Corp., 12 ILWCLB 49
(Ill.Ind.Comm.2004).
Ruling: The
Commission awarded 25 weeks of temporary total disability and medical benefits
to a slaughterhouse worker for a shoulder disability caused by repetitive
activities at work.
What it means: An
employee seeking benefits for gradual injury due to repetitive trauma must
prove a precise, identifiable date when the accidental injury manifests
itself. "Manifest" means the date on which
both the fact of the injury and the causal relationship of the injury to the
claimant's employment
would have become plainly apparent to a reasonable person.
Summary:
The claimant, a slaughterhouse worker, was first assigned a job
taking the skin off hog bellies using an air-powered knife. As she performed this job, she noticed that
her shoulders, arms, wrists, hands and fingers became very sore. She also performed the job of flipping pork
bellies. Each belly weighed approximately 30 pounds and she flipped about 1,000
per shift. Three or four weeks after beginning her employment with the
defendant, she began noticing problems in her shoulder. The Commission found that the claimant
sustained repetitive trauma injuries to her left and right shoulders that arose
out of her employment. Relying on the descriptions provided by the claimant and
a manager, the Commission found the jobs the claimant performed were indeed
repetitive.
Based on the un-rebutted testimony of the claimant, the Commission
found that the repetitive trauma injuries to the shoulders manifested
themselves six weeks after the claimant began her employment with the
defendant. The claimant testified that she started noticing problems in her
shoulders about three or four weeks after she began working. She had no doubt
in her mind that the problems in her shoulders started while she was performing
the flipping bellies job where she noticed pain and popping in her
shoulders. Although in pain, she
continued working. In the following nine months, the claimant complained of
left shoulder pain to her doctor.
