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Amazon worker’s injuries not job-related: Appeals panel

Posted On: May. 20, 2019 2:13 PM CST

Amazon

A worker at an Amazon.com Inc. warehouse in Charleston, Tennessee, failed to prove that her back injury — aggravated by three separate incidents — was caused by her job, according to a Supreme Court of Tennessee, Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel, ruling issued on Thursday.

Ameenah House alleged she was injured in three incidents between 2014 and 2015, one of which included an assault by a co-worker, as chronicled in documents in Ameenah House v. Amazon.com Inc., filed in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The trial court and the state Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board denied her claim, stating that she did not provide adequate medical evidence that her injuries were related to her job.

The trial court noted specifically that “the only expert medical witness who addressed her causation stated that Ms. House’s injuries did not result primarily from her employment,” documents state. The doctor did testify that her complaints “were preexisting arthritis and opined that, while she was a surgical candidate, her problems were not causally related to her employment,” documents state.

Neither the employer nor attorneys for Amazon and Ms. House could immediately be reached for comment.