Rental car worker shot during shift not entitled to comp: Court
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A Florida appellate court on Wednesday overturned a workers compensation judge’s decision allowing comp benefits for a rental car company employee who was shot during a shift.
The District Court of Appeal of Florida said a comp judge improperly found Mohammed Bouayad’s injuries compensable because Mr. Bouayad failed to prove his injuries arose out of his employment.
“At most, the work he performed for Value placed Bouayad in the wrong place at the wrong time,” the court wrote. “This is not enough to establish occupational causation.”
Mr. Bouayad, an employee of Value Car Rental LLC in Orlando, was shot in June 2019, while walking along a covered walkway from a kiosk desk inside a hotel to a neighboring office.
Evidence in the case pointed to a possible personal reason behind the attack and Normandy Insurance Co., Value’s comp insurer, appealed the comp judge’s decision allowing the claim.
Mr. Bouayad argued his job put him at a higher risk of being attacked.
In overturning benefits, the appeals court found Mr. Bouayad failed to prove occupational causation of his injuries.
The court also certified a question to the Florida Supreme Court over whether injuries sustained by third-party individuals entitle a worker to comp benefits if the injuries occurred while a claimant is at work.
