Disability Law

Workers Face Uphill Battle in Occupational Disease Cases

By David A. McCranie, Esq.

The 1/24/2009 edition of the New York Times carried this story about Ed Abney, a 53-year-old former tool and die worker who contracted Parkinson's disease after years of workplace exposure to trichlorethylene, a solvent formerly in widespread use in the United States.  The article highlights the difficulties workers face in proving that an "occupational disease" is really "occupational," that is, that it was caused by their exposure to some harmful substance at the workplace.

Though Mr. Abney's case is controlled by the Kentucky workers' compensation law, Florida employees face similar problems.  Florida's occupational disease statute says that it provides coverage only when there are "epidemiological studies showing that exposure to the specific substance involved, at the level to which the employee was exposed, may cause the precise disease sustained by the employee."  Even then, the employee must prove causation by a heightened evidentiary standard - clear and convincing evidence. 

Full post as published by Florida Workers’ Compensation Law Blog on January 31, 2009 (boomark / email).