Sometimes accidents happen. The last place you want an injury to occur is in the workplace, potentially costing you time and money. But some jobs are much tougher than others. The most common types of injuries in the workplace are sprains, usually caused by the lifting of heavy materials, as reported by The Travelers Companies. But that’s why Workers’ Comp exists
While slips, falls, and lifting injuries can be common in some jobs, there are other stories that tend to grab our attention. Not all Workers’ Comp stories are the same, as you’re about to find out. Here are 5 Famous (and often strange) Workers’ Comp stories.
Case #1: The Vending Machine of Steel
We’ve all spent some time trying to woo a member of the opposite sex. We try to talk to them, buy them little treats, and often remind them how cool we are by doing dumb things we think will win us brownie points. Often times, we end up looking foolish and the whole thing blows up in our face.
That’s exactly what Clinton Dwyer was doing when he sustained a fractured hip that left him out of work for an undetermined amount of time. Yes, Mr. Dwyer injured himself trying to impress a certain lady in his office, but not for a selfish reason. He was trying to free a bag of chips from the office vending machine…a bag of chips he was going to give to his lady of interest.
It’s unknown how hard you have to shake a vending machine to fracture your hip, but this guy did it. As a result, he filed for workman’s comp and won the case! The judge decided in his favor because he sought out the comfort of a co-worker by getting her chips when she was hungry. This makes it office and not personal related. Interesting Workers’ Comp story.
Case #2: The Damn Dog Led to Workers’ Comp
For those of us who own pets, you know it’s downright impossible for them NOT to hang out around our feet and demand attention 24/7. It’s in the pet ownership rulebook to make sure where you’re walking or something bad might happen. That something bad happened to Mary Sandberg. She broke her wrist trying to make her way into the garage.
You might wonder how a trip to the garage in her own home would result in Mary winning a Workers’ Comp case. As it turns out, she’s a decorator for J.C. Penny. What she had in her garage were many fabric samples she was storing there. This made her home protected territory as long as she was doing her job there.
Case #3: The Sex Lamp
A woman in Australia (name unknown) recently went on a business trip and while there, busted her face with a lamp attached to the wall. How did she manage such an incredible feat? By having crazy sex that resulted in said broken lamp breaking off and smacking her. Of course, she filed for workman’s comp, which her place of employment fought.
Their thinking was that the sex wasn’t an ordinary act of the business trip, but the judge decided that no agreement was made beforehand about her conduct while on the business trip, so she won! Fancy that. Awarded Workers’ Comp for having sex on the job.
Case #4: A Man and His Bear
It must be pretty awesome (and terrifying) to work with bears on a daily basis. Brock Hopkins, a bear feeder at Great Bear Adventures in Montana, gets to do exactly that. You’d think a job like that would require a person to come to work with a sober and clear mind. But that’s exactly what Brock didn’t do.
Finishing off his pot stash before work, Brock decided to have a little fun with a particular bear. And when he ended up getting mauled and losing a part of his butt cheek, he was awarded $65,000 in Workers’ Comp damages to cover his medical bills.
Case #5: The Price is Wrong
Who hasn’t dreamed of one day turning that big wheel on The Price is Right? We can only hope it lands on the famous $1 to get that free spin. That’s what Cathy Cashwell of North Carolina did in 2009. Using her whole upper body strength, she gave that wheel a good push and round it went.
The only problem is, she was supposed to be out of work due to an upper-body injury. She was collecting the workman’s comp money while appearing on the show. Oops! She pled guilty to fraud. There were also pictures posted to her Facebook of her zip-lining that were used against her as well.
