INJURIES WERE INCURRED DURING “ORDINARY DUTIES”
Back in 2006, MC – a police officer -- injured his back while moving boxes of “road flares.” Some fourteen years later, when he sought accidental disability benefits, that request was denied, and MC eventually filed a special proceeding [pursuant to CPLR Article 78] to have that administrative determination reversed.
Upon its review of the dispute, the Appellate Division, Third Department, noted that New York’s definition of “accident,” under the state’s Retirement and Social Security Law § 363, was quite precise, and that MC needed to show that his injuries were outside the scope of his “ordinary job duties.”
Since MC (who was then an administrative lieutenant) was responsible for “the facilities, station and substation, as well as all the equipment and deliveries at police headquarters, including receiving and organizing road flares delivered four times a year,” the AD3 concurred with the administrative determinations that MC had been “engaged in the performance of ordinary duties” when the boxes toppled onto him.
Since the “risk that the stack could fall when moved was inherent in the work he was performing in organizing and moving the boxes of flares,” the AD3 concluded that MC had not sustained his burden of showing the incident constituted an “accident” as contemplated by the governing statute.
Did his injuries lack flair?
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DECISION