Employer's Failure To Heed Safety Warnings Not An Intentional Wrong For Purposes Of Workers' Compensation Exclusivity Provision

Dadura, Jr. v. Yum! Brands, Inc., et al., Docket No. A-5134-06T3 (App. Div. 2008) (per curiam) – Plaintiff, a delivery driver, was injured when a vehicle crashed into him while he was standing at the back of the tractor trailer he was unloading.  The tractor trailer was double-parked in the street, because there was nowhere else to park.  Plaintiff alleged his employer was negligent in not providing him a safe place to unload the truck, and that he had previously complained about the issue to his employer. The Appellate Division held that the employer’s failure to act did not create a “substantial certainty” that employees would suffer the sort of injury the plaintiff sustained, and thus was not an intentional wrong which would remove the case from the workers’ compensation system.

Note: This article was published in the May 2008 issue of the New Jersey eAuthority.