A former OK meat packing plant employee who suffered a knee injury during a fall on the way to her car to smoke a cigarette during her break is relying on the Oklahoma Supreme Court to decide whether she will receive workers’ compensation benefits for the injury. In February 2011, 51-year-old Tammie Darlene Rivera slipped and fell in the plant parking lot, suffering an injury to her left knee. She was fired by the meat packing plant a few days later and is still waiting to find out if she will be compensated for the injury and resulting total temporary disability. If you have been injured on the job in Oklahoma and your workers’ compensation claim has been denied, contact our reputable attorneys at Oklahoma Legal Center for help pursing the workers’ comp benefits you deserve.
Fall in Plant Parking Lot Leads to Knee Injury
Rivera was employed by Advance Food Co. for more than a year before her accident, which she testified happened while walking to her car to smoke a cigarette and drink tea during a paid break. According to Rivera, a supervisor at the plant had instructed employees to go to their cars if they wanted to smoke and eat during breaks, since smoking was not allowed inside the plant and food and drinks were not allowed in the company’s outdoor smoking area. Following the fall, Rivera filed a workers’ compensation claim seeking medical treatment for an injury to her left knee, and also sought eight weeks of benefits because of a total temporary disability. The first judge assigned to her case denied the request in July 2011, ruling that Rivera “was not injured in the course and scope of her employment.”
Medical Benefits for Work Injury Debated by Courts
Following the first judge’s ruling, a panel of three workers’ compensation judges reviewed Rivera’s claim. The panel unanimously ruled in October 2011 that she did, in fact, suffer a knee injury arising out of and in the course of her employment. As a result, the panel ordered the meat packing company to provide Rivera’s medical treatment to correct the injury. Following this ruling, Rivera’s case was again reviewed, this time by a panel of three judges on the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals. In a unanimous opinion on December 7, 2012, the panel decided that Rivera was not entitled to benefits for her workplace injury. The next action in Rivera’s workers’ compensation case will be for the Supreme Court to review her claim and determine whether she will receive benefits for the medical care she needs.
Consult Our Experienced Attorneys for Help
Too often, workers who are injured on the job in Oklahoma are unfairly denied benefits or offered compensation far below what is necessary to cover the cost of medical care or missed days at work resulting from a work injury. If you have suffered a serious workplace injury in Oklahoma and your workers’ compensation claim has been rejected by the insurance carrier, your first course of action should be to contact our knowledgeable lawyers at Oklahoma Legal Center. Our team of attorneys has extensive experience protecting the legal rights of injured workers throughout the state of Oklahoma, and will work hard to help you pursue the workers’ compensation benefits you are entitled to.