Tennessee Employer’s Defenses to a Workers’ Compensation Claim: Misrepresentation of a Physical Condition
Courts have denied workers’ compensation in Tennessee when workers have misrepresented their physical condition in an application for employment. Employer’s asserting this defense must prove the following elements:
• The employee knowingly and willfully made a false representation as to his or her physical condition, and
• The employer relied upon the false representation, and the reliance was a substantial factor in the hiring, and
• A causal connection existed between the false representation and the injury.
A determination of whether the employee knowingly and willfully made a false statement is a fact sensitive inquiry. Often, the courts will look at the relative intelligence of the employee. In one case, a court accepted the employee’s explanation that he either overlooked or did not carefully read a question on a medical evaluation. In another case, the court found that the employee did not knowingly or willfully misrepresent his prior shoulder injury because the shoulder pain was minimal and had not caused him to miss work.
With regard to the second element, some courts have found an employer’s administering of a pre-employment physical examination as evidence favoring the worker. Although an employee may have misrepresented his or her physical condition, an employer who discovers or should have discovered the condition upon an examination cannot reasonably say it relied on the misrepresentation.
With regard to the last element—causation—the employer must prove that the misrepresented fact relates to the Tennessee personal injury for which compensation is sought. For example, a court recently excused plaintiff’s pre-employment failure to disclose his sarcoidosis because the exposure at the employer’s plant aggravated plaintiff’s asthma, not his sarcoidosis.
If your workers’ compensation claim has been denied based on your alleged misrepresentation, willful misconduct, or failure to provide notice, you will want an experienced Knoxville workers’ compensation attorney with the knowledge and skills to overcome these defenses. Call 866-853-2888 for a free consultation.
