Hotel server’s injuries not compensable: Appeals court
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An appeals court in Arkansas on Wednesday affirmed an Embassy Suites employee failed to establish that she sustained a compensable injury working for the hotel.
Roberta Jones, a server at Embassy Suites, alleges that she injured her spine during the breakfast service in 2018 when she attempted to lift a coffee pot "weighing 15 to 20 pounds" onto a counter and heard a "pop" in her neck, according to documents in Jones v. Suites, filed in the Court of Appeals of Arkansas, Division III in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Days later, Ms. Jones underwent a medical examination, complaining of "neck pain since the fall" and back pain, and sought treatment six times after. Ms. Jones' employer later sent her for care under workers compensation after she had informed her supervisor of her alleged injury. At this visit, she complained of constant pain on the right side of her neck, arm and hand, which she explained "was not the result of an injury," conflicting prior reports.
Citing numerous inconsistencies and contradictions in her testimony and the record, the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission ruled Ms. Jones failed to establish she sustained a compensable workplace injury. Ms. Jones appealed, arguing that the Commission erred in failing to credit the opinion of one physician and that the Commission's decision was not supported by substantial evidence.
The appeals court upheld the Commission’s ruling writing, “(a)lthough Jones attempts to justify the numerous inconsistencies and contradictions in her testimony and the record, none of her arguments support a reversal of the Commission's decision.”
