A Marriott International Inc. bartender who suffered a back injury when she tripped and fell at work will lose her workers compensation benefits after a Pennsylvania appeals court found the employer proved she had recovered, in part by providing video surveillance of her spending two days at the beach.
Renee Loguidice, who had a history of back pain and surgery prior to her 2018 fall at work, had been granted a continuation of benefits by the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board in 2022, reversing an earlier ruling by a workers compensation judge that terminated her benefits, according to Marriott International Inc. v. Renee C. Loguidice (Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board), filed in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.
The board ruled that Marriott, which provided medical documentation that included testimony from one of Ms. Loguidice’s examining physicians, failed to prove its argument that she could return the work.
The physician testified that a 2020 examination “found no showing of muscle atrophy or muscle weakening” and “no evidence of spasm in her low back.”
Ms. Loguidice “gave a significant pain reaction to gentle touching,” leading the doctor to believe she was “malingering and not providing genuine responses or effort during the examination,” according to court documents.
Marriott’s case included video of Ms. Loguidice at a New Jersey beach that showed her “moving seemingly without pain and doing activities inconsistent with someone who suffered from radiculopathy, such as walking for blocks, up inclines, and up and down steps.”
The appellate court, in reversing the comp board’s decision, ruled that the company had provided substantial evidence proving Ms. Loguidice was able to work.