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DES MOINES, Iowa—To recover workers compensation benefits, a claimant who “wiggled his butt” at a co-worker must prove his actions were not “aggressive participation in horseplay,” Iowa's Supreme Court ruled.
Monday's ruling in Xenia Rural Water District and Emcasco Insurance Co. vs. Norman Vegors stemmed from injuries Mr. Vegors, a machine inspector, suffered when a co-worker struck him with a pickup truck, court records show.
Mr. Vegors had his hands full when he acknowledged the co-worker by “wiggling his butt” and the co-worker attempted to bump Mr. Vegors with the truck mirror, but hit him with the truck bed, according to the court's decision.
Mr. Vegors sought workers' compensation benefits, and Xenia contested, arguing horseplay barred him from receiving benefits.
Xenia employees testified that Mr. Vegors told a supervisor that he and the co-worker had been “goofing around,” court records indicate.
A commissioner held that Mr. Vegors intended to “shake his hind end as a means of communication and not to initiate, instigate, or participate in the horseplay,” so recovery of workers compensation benefits was not barred.
A district court reversed, and Mr. Vegors appealed.
The Supreme Court found that “a claimant cannot recover for injuries stemming from an employee's instigation or aggressive participation in horseplay that constitutes a substantial deviation from his employment.”
Therefore, the high court said the claimant bears the burden of proving he did not substantially deviate from his employment by instigating or aggressively participating in the horseplay.
The Supreme Court remanded the case.