Injured Illinois worker later fired for stealing still eligible for comp

An injured Illinois worker whose employment was terminated for stealing before he reached maximum medical improvement is entitled to temporary total disability benefits, an Illinois appeals has ruled.

Walter Matuszczak, who worked for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. as a night stocker, moving boxes of up to 100 pounds, injured his neck, back and right arm when several shelves of glass cleaner fell on top of him at work in March 2010, court records show.

Mr. Matuszczak began seeking medical care two days later and eventually returned to work in a light-duty capacity, records show. In May 2011, an orthopedic surgeon recommended that Mr. Matuszczak undergo surgery.

Less than one month later, Mr. Matuszczak testified that his employment was terminated unrelated to his occupational injury, according to records. He wrote in a statement that he stole cigarettes from Wal-Mart on June 3, 2011, and on a “couple of days” in May 2011. He wrote that he knew stealing from his employer could result in termination, records show.

Mr. Matuszczak said he looked for other work within his light-duty restrictions, but remained unsuccessful, records show.

In January 2012, an arbitrator said Mr. Matuszczak’s injuries occurred in the course and scope of his employment in 2010, awarding him just over 23 weeks of temporary total disability benefits, $14,227.41 in medical expenses and prospective medical expenses in the form of the recommended surgery, according to records.

The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission vacated the arbitrator’s award of temporary total disability benefits in October 2012, but otherwise affirmed and adopted the decision, records show. However, in April 2013, the DuPage County Circuit Court reversed the portion of the commission’s decision that vacated the arbitrator’s temporary total disability award, leading the Commission to appeal.

The Appellate Court of Illinois on Tuesday reinstated the arbitrator’s temporary total disability award and remanded the case.

“The employer agrees claimant sustained a compensable work injury on March 7, 2010,” the ruling states. “Also, it is undisputed that claimant was discharged by the employer for acts unrelated to his injury. Thus, the appropriate inquiry for the Commission was whether claimant’s medical condition had stabilized at the time of his termination.”

A similar case from 2010, Interstate Scaffolding Inc. v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, was also cited in the ruling. In that case, the Illinois Supreme Court found “that when an employee who is entitled to receive workers compensation benefits as a result of a work-related injury is later terminated for conduct unrelated to the injury, the employer’s obligation to pay (temporary total disability) workers compensation benefits continues until the employee’s medical condition has stabilized.”