Winkelman v. Sumitomo Rubber USA (3rd Dept. 6/20/24).
This Appellate decision affirmed the Board’s finding of no Section 114a violation. Here, the claimant worked as a tire development engineer. He tripped and fell in May 2018 carrying a tire, injuring his lower back. For a period of time when the claimant was receiving temporary disability benefits, the carrier had surveillance footage showing claimant lifting and unloading boxes from his vehicle and that he was seen alongside his spouse at craft shows.
The Board found that the carrier did not demonstrate the boxes exceeded a 15-pound weight limit set by his doctor. Or, that he had any ownership interest or was receiving income from his wife’s craft business. “’Sporadic, incidental and uncompensated assistance to one’s spouse’ is insufficient to give rise to an intentional misrepresentation for purposes of a Workers’ Compensation Law § 114-a violation” (citing, Matter of Roberts v Eastman Kodak Co., 185 AD3d 1124, 1126 (3d Dept. 2020).
It is notable that the 3rd Dept. specifically recognized there was enough evidence that had the Board gone the other way, they would have affirmed that too.
[View source.]
