The South Carolina Supreme Court Wednesday upheld workers compensation benefits for an injured worker but questioned whether judges in comp cases should continue citing precedent that the justices said is outdated.
In Isaac D. Brailey vs. Michelin North America Inc., the state high court ruled that a lower appeals court correctly overturned a South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission decision that found the employer proved a “fraud in the application” defense under Cooper v. McDevitt & Street Co., an often-cited 1973 ruling that dealt with workers comp fraud.
The lower appeals court determined Mr. Brailey was entitled to benefits despite the commission’s contention that he failed to prove his back injury was work-related.
While it upheld that lower appellate decision, the state Supreme Court said it was “concerned with the continued validity of Cooper,” saying Michelin could not satisfy elements of the Cooper test because the Americans with Disabilities Act made Cooper moot.
Under Cooper, Michelin was required to show that its reliance on any allegedly false representation made by a job applicant on an employment application constituted a “substantial factor in the hiring decision.” Under the ADA, however, Michelin wasn’t permitted to ask Mr. Brailey whether he had any back impairments until after it made a hiring decision, the ruling states.
“We cannot tell on the record before us whether this inconsistency between the ADA and Cooper will occur rarely or frequently, but as the Cooper test was written before the ADA was adopted, it simply does not work well anymore,” the justices wrote.