Worker Ignores Physician, Company Pays.

When an worker ignores directions from a physician, who’s responsible when the worker causes a serious accident on the job?

In some cases, it’s your firm that ends up on the hook - both for workers’ comp and for other individuals ’s injuries caused by misuse of a prescription drug.

Situations like these raise three questions that even HR/benefits pros have trouble answering. How are you - or supervisors - supposed to know what meds individuals  are on and whether they’re taking them as directed by their physicians?

In most cases, you won’t.

Are you able to find out without violating HIPAA or other laws?

You can’t, unless the worker volunteers the info or a doctor notes the effects of medication being the reason for the accident.

So when you won’t know and can’t find out, how on earth can your firm be held responsible after the fact?

It all depends on the circumstances. Three key danger signs -

• A supervisor already has knowledge of an employee’s health condition, if not the meds themselves. Example -  the worker requested a schedule change and said it was due to a particular health problem

• the person has a history of erratic behavior that management suspects is medication-related, and/or

• the employee’s job involves potentially hazardous situations.

Spotting possible danger

A Florida case (Johnson v. Rentway) is a classic example of the two of the three large danger signs.

1. the supervisor knew an employee had insulin-dependent diabetes.

2. the staff member was under physician’s orders to take insulin at specific times, which required the company to adjust the employee’s schedule.

But due to short staffing, the worker was often forced to work shifts that overlapped with times he was supposed to take injections.

What’s more, the employee worked a potentially perilous job (he was a expert truck driver).

Finally, the inevitable happpened. the employee suffered a diabetic blackout at the wheel, causing a serious crash that injured himself and another driver.

The employee filed for workers’ comp, and the injured driver sued the company. the firm fought - and lost- both cases. Total cost -  $5 million.