Horseplay isn't covered unless you aren't the horse

A reader asks:

I had hurt my knee at home and was at work on crutches.  As a "joke" (ha, ha) my co-worker came up from behind to try and tip me over.  End result is I twisted my knee worse and now have a torn meniscus that needs surgery.  The insurance company denied my case because they said it was horseplay.  Are they right or just lying to me?

They are wrong.  Under Illinois workers' compensation law, if you get injured while "engaging in horseplay", e.g. goofing off, your injuries are not covered.  The exception is if you either did not participate or were not a willing participant.

So if the co-worker had hurt himself then his injuries would not be covered.  But our reader was an innocent bystander who did not want to participate in the shenanigans.  We are confident that if we went before an Arbitrator that he would rule that the injury is work related and the insurance company has to pay for all of his related medical bills, all his time off work and for the permanent nature of his injury.

On a side note, even though he clearly had a pre-existing condition, because the work related accident aggravated it, the pre-existing problem should not matter.

We are workers' compensation attorneys that help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys.  Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.